February 27, 2012

Jason Varitek Will Announce Retirement On Thursday

Godspeed, Cactus!

After 15 seasons, Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek will announce his retirement this Thursday.

Globe:
Only Carl Yastrzemski (23 seasons), Ted Williams (19) and Jim Rice (16) had longer tenures with the Red Sox without playing for another team.

Varitek played in 63 postseason games in his career, helping the Red Sox to the 2004 and 2007 World Series titles.

Varitek leaves the Red Sox ninth in team history in games played (1,546), doubles (306) and extra-base hits (513). He is 10th in plate appearances (5,839) and RBIs (757).

Read: Matthew Kory (OTM) on Varitek.

12 comments:

allan said...

"We don't throw at .260 hitters."

***

Peter Abraham's original post at the Globe said that Varitek had been the team's captain from 1997-2011, but it has been changed. ... Lazy, sloppy writing.

Unless maybe the Sox DID make him captain after he went 1-for-1 in 1997!

Benjamin said...

With an OPS+ of 422!

allan said...

Clearly, destined for greatness!

allan said...

@LynchieWCVB reporting Varitek may start out as a roving minor lg instructor for #RedSox. If he likes, may move to managing next year #wcvb

allan said...

SG, RLYW:
"To be honest, the more I think about it, the more concerned I am about the Yankees' offense this year. I can envision scenarios where the Yankees get less offense than expected out of just about every position but 2B and CF."

East = Ours

Amy said...

Goodbye, Jason. Hope to see you coaching or managing some day soon. And thanks for the memories.

laura k said...

A terrific career (and an overdue retirement). Thanks for everything, Cactus! I'm sure we'll see him again soon.

Two great photos, too!

FenFan said...

Hats off to Tek!

9casey said...

laura k said...
(and an overdue retirement).


aren't they all......


Good to see he is going out as a Red Sock.

allan said...

Hats off to Tek!

but not masks (/obsessedmfyfan)

Zenslinger said...

Well done, Jason, and thanks for all the memories.

laura k said...

aren't they all......

To varying degrees, yes. This one was quite a bit past its due date in my book. But all that can be forgotten now. :)