Joe Ruffalo

The greatest pitcher of our generation officially retires a world champion.

Been a privilege to watch Clayton Kershaw pitch for the Dodgers for these past 18 years. Whenever Kersh took the hill, you just knew you were watching greatness. Hearing Vin Scully call his starts on those warm summer nights as a kid...all of it special. The end of an incredible era.

Here's a few shots that I took documenting Kershaw's final career start in Milwaukee a few months back.

📸: July 8th, 2025

What a night! Pretty special anytime you have an opportunity to see and photograph the all-time greats. Had a blast covering Counting Crows and Santana for Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre on Saturday!

Thanks for taking a minute to check out my gallery! 📸

“Back Where It All Began”

On Thursday afternoon, former Chicago White Sox great Chris Sale took the mound on the South Side for the first time in five years.

Sale began his career with the White Sox back in 2010 as an effective relief pitcher. With the help of Pitching Coach Don Cooper, however, Sale eventually transitioned into a starting pitcher two years later, and his career immediately took off. He earned MLB All-Star honors for seven straight seasons from 2012-2018 and led the American League in strikeouts in both 2015 and 2017.

In 2016, Sale was traded to the Boston Red Sox in a blockbuster deal for prospects Yoan Moncada and Michael Kopech. In 2017, he surpassed 300 strikeouts in a season for the first time, earning him the title of AL Sporting News Starting Pitcher of the Year. In 2018, he struck out Dodgers star Manny Machado to record the final out of the World Series. In 2019, he would set a record by reaching 2,000 career strikeouts in just 1,626 innings pitched.

Unfortunately, injuries would plague Sale the next few years, leading to him being traded to Atlanta in 2024. Since the trade, Chris has re-emerged as an elite arm, sporting a 10-3 record with 118 strikeouts and a 2.79 ERA. Everything was on display when he faced the White Sox in Chicago on Thursday afternoon. The 35-year-old lefty was in vintage form, ending the day with a very impressive final line:

7 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 11 K

In the bottom of the fifth-inning, Sale made history yet again, punching out Sox infielder Danny Mendick to collect his 2,307th career strikeout, passing Hall of Famer Juan Marichal for 56th on the all-time list.

📸: June 27th, 2024

“A Summer Night In Milwaukee”

Already shared this image on my Instagram stories a couple of times and figured that I’d just post it here as well. I’m always a sucker for shooting neon signs. Leon’s in Milwaukee is about as iconic as it gets.

As I said on my stories, been in a bit of a creative rut the last couple of weeks, particularly around the ballpark. I’ve put so much time and energy into covering the team and game that I love over the last few years. I’m always trying to explore new ways to improve my Sox content, but just have felt like I’ve been striking out more frequently in my recent attempts. That being said, it’s been nice to take a temporary step away and focus on other things for a change.

The good news is that there are some fun shoots in the works the next few weeks and I plan on getting back to posting more regularly. Thanks for all the support!

📸: May 31st, 2024