Home Baseball On This Day in Dodgers History: Clayton Kershaw and Yasiel Puig Visit Cuba; Hiroki Kuroda Signs

On This Day in Dodgers History: Clayton Kershaw and Yasiel Puig Visit Cuba; Hiroki Kuroda Signs

Baseball — 12/16/2023

On this day in Los Angeles Dodgers history, Hiroki Kuroda agreed to a three-year, $35.2 million contract. Before coming to Los Angeles in 2007, the Osaka native, 33, spent 11 seasons as a player for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp in the Japanese Central League, where he finished with a record of 103-89 and an earned run average of 3.69.

With two teams—the Dodgers for four of his seven Major League seasons and the New York Yankees for three—Kuroda compiled a 79-79 record with a 3.45 ERA in more than 1,300 innings pitched. Six complete games were played during his time in the major leagues, in addition to 986 strikeouts.

During his time with the Dodgers, Kuroda pitched 202 innings with a career-best 3.07 ERA in 2011, a fantastic season. Earlier in his tenure with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Kuroda made two excellent starts in the National League Division Series against the Chicago Cubs, shining a light on the rotation during their 2008 postseason run.

In the third game of the NL Championship Series, Kuroda pitched 6.1 shutout innings and limited the Philadelphia Phillies to just two runs in six innings.

Kuroda was a successful Major League pitcher from Japan, and his legacy inspired Kenta Maeda to be a starting pitcher for the Dodgers in the future.

In Cuba, Kershaw and Puig represent the Dodgers.On this day in Dodgers history as well, in 2015, the MLB held a press conference at the Hotel Nacional in Havana to kick off their first official visit to the country since 1999.

Players like former Dodgers All-Star Yasiel Puig and White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu, who both defected from their island nation to play baseball in the United States, will be taking part in the four days of charitable events and children’s clinics.

Clayton Kershaw went on the goodwill tour with his teammate.

The Major Leagues returned in 2016 for a historic exhibition game between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Cuban national team, in addition to the humanitarian efforts. Several dignitaries attended the game, which demonstrated MLB’s global outreach initiatives.