Casey Blake retires

"Every year I have to convince myself I'm good enough to play at this level."

Kirk Gibson

On this date in 1995, Kirk Gibson announces his retirement.

"I'm not here to win a beauty contest."

Carlos Delgado

"If you hit, they're going to like you. If you don't, they're not going to like you."

Mike Sweeney retires

"We will support and fight and take a bullet for Ken Griffey Jr. if we have to."

Dude, it's not like you can ride his coattails into the Hall of Fame!

Settle down before you hurt somebody!

Brendan Donnelly retires

"If he wants to take care of his problem, the clubhouses are pretty close. He can just send one of the bat boys to come get me outside and then we'll take care of this as a man." - After Jose Guillen accused him of keeping pine tar in his glove.

Garret Anderson retires

Back to slacks!

Jim Edmonds retires

"If it doesn't seem like I'm working hard sometimes, that's someone else's problem."

Andy Pettitte retires

"He has a bellyful of guts." - Joe Torre

Trevor Hoffman retires

"I think opposing batters walk away more often than not frustrated because of my stuff. You're not wowed by whatever I throw up there."

Hey Chipper!

"Don't worry. You can say you are going to say you are going to retire and then not do it.

There is nothing wrong with that!

Give me a call and we can talk.

I can get you out of Spring Training next year for sure."

Brett

Zambrano threatens to quit

Per Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune, Carlos Zambrano says he will retire at the end of next year if he has another season like 2009. Zambrano also apparently insisted that he was serious.

"Look, this is the only season I haven't won 16 or 18 or 14 games. If it happens again next season, two seasons in a row, I'll quit. I just have to put this behind me."

I am guessing that he has a marketable secondary skill that will keep him occupied in the event that this contingency plan comes into play.

I trust that he knows what he is doing. He has probably been thinking about his options for next year for some time which among other things would include:

1. Win the World Series with the Cubs and be a World Series contributor and star. Be a hero in Chicago forever.
2. Do not win at least 14 games and quit.

I am sure that he has thought this out rationally and this is not just some spur-of-the-moment kind of thing. Otherwise, he would have no credibility the next time he opens his mouth and I am sure he has thought of that.

Ok, Carlos. No problem.

Words have meaning, you know and we are going to hold you to this.

Just so you know.

Bobby Cox might call it quits?

So apparently the word out of Atlanta is that Bobby Cox may retire and not manage beyond this season.

Per the Atlanta Journal Constitution, when asked if he would be back for a 25th season as the Braves' manager, Cox responded, "We'll see," and when pressed further, he said, "We'll see, OK?"

Hmmm. I didn't know that this was even an issue but when you think about it, Bobby has the record for career ejections for a manager so there appears to be not much more that he could possibly accomplish in baseball.

While I can respect his decision to retire, if that is really what he is going to do, it sure must a kick to have license to hurl abuse at authority figures on a regular basis with the only penalty being that you have to go take a shower or you would face an unlikely short suspension. I know that I would not want to give that up.

Actually there is probably no need to speculate as to whether Bobby will retire as I think I know a sure-fire way to tell if he will quit.

Remember Ted Williams' last at-bat when he hit that dramatic home run?

I see the same thing happening here.

If Bobby Cox gets thrown out in the last game of this season, he's retiring.

I just know it.

I can't wait.