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Alomar announces retirement
Sports Network
3/19/2005
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (CP) - Former Toronto Blue Jays star Roberto Alomar called it quits Saturday. The 12-time all-star signed with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays with hopes of playing one final season, but he announced his retirement Saturday.
It came one day after he committed two errors in one inning of a spring training game. The 37-year-old Alomar, a key in Toronto's back-to-back World Series titles in 1992 and '93, has been bothered by back and vision problems in recent weeks.
"I played a lot of games and I said I would never embarrass myself on the field," Alomar said. "I had a long career, but I can't play at the level I want to play, so it's time to retire."
This would have been the 18th major league season for Alomar, who also played for San Diego, Baltimore, Cleveland, the New York Mets, Arizona, and the Chicago White Sox.
He signed a $600,000 US, one-year contract with the Devil Rays in January, hopeful that he could end his stellar career on a high note after a swift decline the past three seasons. The team pencilled him in as the everyday second baseman and No. 2 hitter.
Alomar, though, said he had doubts even entering camp.
"I just can't go anymore," Alomar said. "My back, legs and eyes aren't the same. I don't want to embarrass myself or my teammates."
With Alomar leaving, Jorge Cantu - who hit .301 in 50 games for Tampa Bay last season, his first in the major leagues - figures to take over at second base.
"I learned a lot from him and I have all the respect in the world for him," Cantu said. "I watched him when I was a kid and looked up to him all through the minor leagues. You have to respect what he's done."
A 10-time Gold Glove winner and career .300 hitter, Alomar is 276 hits shy of 3,000. He was an all-star for 11 consecutive seasons from 1991 to 2001, but has struggled while batting .266, .258 and .263 the past three years.
In 2004, he missed two months with a broken right hand and finished with four homers and 24 RBIs in 56 games for Arizona and the White Sox.
Alomar's stellar career also included an infamous altercation with an umpire. In 1996, upset over strike calls, Alomar - then with the Baltimore Orioles - spat in the face of umpire John Hirschbeck in Toronto.
Alomar made matters worse afterward by saying he thought Hirschbeck was under stress because his eight-year-old son, John Drew, had died of a rare brain disease in 1993 known as adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD).
Yet soon, Alomar and Hirschbeck became friends, and even worked together to raise money earmarked for finding a cure for ALD. And Alomar hopes that mistake doesn't mar his legacy.
"I wish it never happened," Alomar said, "and I hope that's not how people remember me."
He'll likely be remembered in Toronto as a player that may be the best to ever wear a Jays uniform. The San Diego Padres traded Alomar and Joe Carter to the Blue Jays for Fred McGriff and Tony Fernandez in a famous December 1990 deal that put Toronto over the hump.
He was the MVP of the 1992 American League Championship Series, and few will ever forget his home run off Oakland closer Dennis Eckersley in that series.
Also Saturday, Tampa Bay right fielder Danny Bautista, who hit .286 with 11 homers and 65 RBIs last season with Arizona, announced his retirement.
Bautista was in the major leagues for parts of 12 seasons with Detroit, Atlanta, Florida and the Diamondbacks. He hit .272 in 895 career games, and was 7-for-12 to help Arizona beat the New York Yankees in the 2001 World Series. "
No matter what anyone says this man was an amazing player.
Sports Network
3/19/2005
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (CP) - Former Toronto Blue Jays star Roberto Alomar called it quits Saturday. The 12-time all-star signed with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays with hopes of playing one final season, but he announced his retirement Saturday.
It came one day after he committed two errors in one inning of a spring training game. The 37-year-old Alomar, a key in Toronto's back-to-back World Series titles in 1992 and '93, has been bothered by back and vision problems in recent weeks.
"I played a lot of games and I said I would never embarrass myself on the field," Alomar said. "I had a long career, but I can't play at the level I want to play, so it's time to retire."
This would have been the 18th major league season for Alomar, who also played for San Diego, Baltimore, Cleveland, the New York Mets, Arizona, and the Chicago White Sox.
He signed a $600,000 US, one-year contract with the Devil Rays in January, hopeful that he could end his stellar career on a high note after a swift decline the past three seasons. The team pencilled him in as the everyday second baseman and No. 2 hitter.
Alomar, though, said he had doubts even entering camp.
"I just can't go anymore," Alomar said. "My back, legs and eyes aren't the same. I don't want to embarrass myself or my teammates."
With Alomar leaving, Jorge Cantu - who hit .301 in 50 games for Tampa Bay last season, his first in the major leagues - figures to take over at second base.
"I learned a lot from him and I have all the respect in the world for him," Cantu said. "I watched him when I was a kid and looked up to him all through the minor leagues. You have to respect what he's done."
A 10-time Gold Glove winner and career .300 hitter, Alomar is 276 hits shy of 3,000. He was an all-star for 11 consecutive seasons from 1991 to 2001, but has struggled while batting .266, .258 and .263 the past three years.
In 2004, he missed two months with a broken right hand and finished with four homers and 24 RBIs in 56 games for Arizona and the White Sox.
Alomar's stellar career also included an infamous altercation with an umpire. In 1996, upset over strike calls, Alomar - then with the Baltimore Orioles - spat in the face of umpire John Hirschbeck in Toronto.
Alomar made matters worse afterward by saying he thought Hirschbeck was under stress because his eight-year-old son, John Drew, had died of a rare brain disease in 1993 known as adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD).
Yet soon, Alomar and Hirschbeck became friends, and even worked together to raise money earmarked for finding a cure for ALD. And Alomar hopes that mistake doesn't mar his legacy.
"I wish it never happened," Alomar said, "and I hope that's not how people remember me."
He'll likely be remembered in Toronto as a player that may be the best to ever wear a Jays uniform. The San Diego Padres traded Alomar and Joe Carter to the Blue Jays for Fred McGriff and Tony Fernandez in a famous December 1990 deal that put Toronto over the hump.
He was the MVP of the 1992 American League Championship Series, and few will ever forget his home run off Oakland closer Dennis Eckersley in that series.
Also Saturday, Tampa Bay right fielder Danny Bautista, who hit .286 with 11 homers and 65 RBIs last season with Arizona, announced his retirement.
Bautista was in the major leagues for parts of 12 seasons with Detroit, Atlanta, Florida and the Diamondbacks. He hit .272 in 895 career games, and was 7-for-12 to help Arizona beat the New York Yankees in the 2001 World Series. "
No matter what anyone says this man was an amazing player.
