Bowing Out Quietly

On Saturday January 24th, 2009 Sean Casey announced his retirement from the MLB.  He held a small press conference in which he lamented on his years in the league and all of the great times that he had and it was all very classy.  Unfortunately for Sean Casey the story of him retiring was nowhere to be found on any of the big sports sites that I frequent (Sports Illustrated, ESPN, and TSN).  No, the only reason I found out Casey had retired was because it appeared at the bottom of the ticker as I was watching highlights on the Score.

Now this may not seem like a big deal but when you start to add this incident with other incidents that have occurred previously and the ones that are soon to come it becomes more shocking and troubling.

Its not as if Sean Casey was an absolute nobody.  He had a career average of .302 and hit 130 HR with 735 RBI all the while making 3 All star teams and being well known as being the nicest guy in baseball.  Yet his retirement is just one of many that fans can expect this off season.  With the current economy and the new approach to the game (the young approach) players like Casey no longer have a place in the game it seems.

Jeff Kent also retired this week without a whole lot of media hype and he was a 5 time All-Star, former NL MVP in 2000 and 4 time Silver Slugger Award Winner.  His stats are more impressive than Casey and yet he was also went silently into the night.  And there are players like Ken Griffey Jr.,Garret Anderson, Nomar Garciaparra, Moises Alou,Luis Gonzalez, Pudge Rodriguez, Frank Thomas, Cliff Floyd, Jim Edmonds who may also have their careers cut short by the current economy.

These are big names and future hall of famers who have now become irrelevant and have been cast aside by the league that they helped to build.  This is not a new phenomenon either as recently players such as Kenny Lofton, Shawn Green, Mike Piazza and Sammy Sosa were forced out of the league in years past for financial issues.

I am not trying to say that teams should be throwing their money around wildly at older players who may or may not be past their primes and I don't think there should be a parade or giant media circus when someone retires but a little more class by the league and these major sports entities would be nice.

A new age in baseball is fast approaching where big names of my childhood will be cast aside for younger and less expensive players but the MLB needs to take care of its own and try and not push these men aside as if they were clutter but maybe make the transition out and the final goodbye a little more sensitive and classy.