Mark Teixeira set to announce retirement today
New York Yankees star Mark Teixeira is set to announce his retirement according to reports.
It has been a stretch of change for the New York Yankees in the past week, as they made the rare turn towards selling off at the MLB trade deadline. However, the next change that will come to Bronx will be a notable retirement of a longtime Yankee (and no not THAT one). Rather, it is being reported that first baseman Mark Teixeira will announce his retirement prior to today’s game against the Cleveland Indians at Yankee Stadium, which would be effective at the end of the season.
This comes on the heels of a day where Teixeira added some life to the final game of the most recent entry into the Subway Series, as Mets pitchers accused him of stealing signs, leading tensions to cause for the benches to clear for both teams.
This news works against Teixeira’s formerly stated desire to extend his career well beyond this year, making the retirement of Teixeira a surprisingly sudden development. He is pending free agency and is still only 36 years old, and while his time in New York was likely drawing to close, more than a few teams would seem likely to call on him in some capacity. While a number of injuries have taken their toll on his playing time over much of the last few years, he was an All-Star as recently as last year and has connected for 10 home runs in 77 games this summer – albeit while sporting a .198/.287/.340 slash line, a career worst with the exception his 2013 campaign where he was limited to only 15 games.
The 36-year-old Teixeira came to New York as a part of the team’s huge offseason spending spree in the winter of 2008, joining CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Nick Swisher as big name acquisitions to right the path for the franchise, who missed the postseason for the first time in 13 years previous season. ‘Tex’ joined the Yankees for an eight-year, $180 million deal that winter.
Teixeira and company delivered on promise, propelling the Yankees to the 2009 World Series, the organization’s 27th World Series title, as well as its most recent. Teixeira was an All-Star that season and finished as runner-up for the American League Most Valuable Player award, leading the circuit in home runs (39) and RBI (122), while taking home a Gold Glove and Silver Slugger Award as well.
Teixeira has spent half of his career in pinstripes, after reaching the Majors with the Texas Rangers and making brief stops with the Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Angels along the way. Teixeira hit his 400th career home run earlier this season, to go along with career totals to date of 1,281 RBI, 1,836 hits and a .269 batting average. In addition, he is a three-time All-Star, five-time Gold Glove Award winner and holds the MLB record for most games with a home run from both sides of the plate with 14.
Prior to becoming a professional, he won the Dick Howser Award for the nation’s top collegiate baseball player while playing at Georgia Tech University.