*Photo from Call to the Pen*
Washington Nationals 2B/1B Howie Kendrick has retired from baseball, according to an announcement made on Kendrick's Instagram page. Kendrick is calling it a career after 15 major league seasons, spending 9 of them with the Los Angeles Angels, two years with the Los Angeles Dodgers, half a season with the Philadelphia Phillies, and 3 1/2 years with the Nationals most recently.
Kendrick said in a statement that "After 15 MLB seasons, I’ve decided to retire from the game of baseball. A dream that started as a 5 yr old boy in the town of Callahan, Florida. I will be forever grateful for the many life lessons baseball has taught me on this 32 yr journey. I want to give praise and thanks first to God and secondly my grandmother, Ruth Woods, who laid the ground work and introduced me to the game of baseball. To my Wife Jody, my sons Owen and Tyson, I love you more than anything in this world. Thank you for sticking it out on this ride I called a dream. After all of this we’ve made it to dad being home everyday. I’m looking forward to being a constant pain in your butt day in and day out. To everyone in Callahan who did their part to keep me on the straight and narrow, you’ve never been forgotten."
"To the LA Angels, thank you for taking a chance on me in 2002 and helping me blossom into the consistent player I became. To the Dodgers, although the opportunity to wear Dodger Blue was brief, it will always be cherished. To the Philadelphia Phillies, thank you for helping me understand what it meant to become a leader and veteran. Last but not least, my Beloved Washington Nationals, thank you for embracing me as one of your own. I feel as though I’d been a National my whole career and the wild, humbling and crazy ride we had in 2019 truly culminated everything I’d learned in my career, and we all became World Champions."
"To my teammates throughout the years, thank you for the times and hardships we’ve shared. I’ve learned from you and hopefully taught some of you the bits and pieces I got from the guys before me. To the fans, without your support and love for the game, our stage and lights would not shine as brightly as they do. Know you will be missed as well. I will always love the game of baseball and will constantly reflect on the lifelong memories made. For now, it’s time to drop the mic and enter a new stage of my life."
Kendrick played 25 games for the Nationals in 2020, hitting .275 with two homers and 14 RBI in the short season. In his 15 year career, Kendrick is a .294 hitter with 127 homers and 724 RBI in 1,621 career games played. Kendrick became a free agent at the end of the 2020 season, when the Nationals declined the mutual option on Kendrick's contract.
In the Nationals world series winning season of 2019, Kendrick was a key contributor in the postseason, a big reason why the Nats won their first ever world series. In game 5 of the NLDS against the Dodgers, he hit a tiebreaking grand slam in the 10th inning to propel the Nats to the NLCS against the St.Louis Cardinals. In the world series a few weeks later, Kendrick hit a go ahead two run homer in the 7th inning of game 7 that hit the foul pole in right field, putting Washington up 2-1, a lead they wouldn't give up.
Comments
Post a Comment