APRIL 12th: The Phillies have announced that Burrell will sign a one-day minor league contract and retire with the club that originally drafted him. The retirement ceremony will be held on May 19th.
JAN. 30th: Pat Burrell is retiring, MLBTR has learned. We last heard from Pat the Bat in November, when the 35-year-old told the AP, "I have not decided yet, but I don't think I can play anymore [due to a chronic foot injury]. It hurts me to say that."
Burrell was drafted first overall by the Phillies in 1998 as a third baseman out of the University of Miami, but spent the bulk of his career as a left fielder. In nine seasons with the Phillies, he hit .257/.367/.485 with 251 home runs. His home run total ranks fourth all-time for the Phillies, behind only Del Ennis, Ryan Howard, and Mike Schmidt. He finished fourth in the 2000 Rookie of the Year voting, and received MVP votes in '02 and '05. Burrell had stints with the Rays and Giants to finish his career, during which he earned approximately $71MM in big league salary and scored a pair of World Series rings.
Photo courtesy of Icon SMI.
Very solid career
Pat Burrell is that important in Phillies history to sign him to a one day contract and hold a (presumably on-field) retirement ceremony for him? Phillies history must not be so great…
Philly fans love him.
Mets fans don’t…
By love do you mean boo and berate?
Oh good lord. Yes he got booed a bit when he first came back, but it passed pretty quickly.
The guy (and Elvis) led the 2008 WS parade. He’s loved in Philly.
We have the best fans in baseball. The Freddie chants last night prove that. Too bad the national media refuses to see that.
all Phillies fans do is boo players
Now that’s just plain WRONG! They boo fans too!! 😀
Not really. That’s what the national media would have you believe though.
We do not all love him.
Joe L, it’s a nice move, why bash it? His numbers look much better when you look back since there has been no taint of steroids with him
His career -61.8 UZR and 21.9 fWAR are kinda average for a player to be celebrated. If we celebrated every player that put up that kind of a career, each season wouldn’t end until Christmas.
Solid offensive career though.
Pat Burrell was with the Phillies through the bad and the good. Always a class act, which is really saying something when you factor in his struggles and the way Philadelphia sports fans are. I swear on the life of my first child, he pointed to me while I was waving a 40oz on top of a bus-stop on Broad and Tasker during the parade! A glorious moment!
As a Phillies fan, it’s not all about the numbers with Pat in this city. He was one of the few athletes that actually understood the fan base. When he wasn’t playing well and got booed, he admitted it, put his head down, and played. That earned the respect of a lot of fans and that’s why Philly loves him! Couldn’t have ended his career here in Philly any better than the 08 WS ring. Glad to see him go out as a Phillie
“Thank God.”- Every Mets Player and Fan
Why did it take them 3 months to decide this?
Maybe had to coordinate the dates and when he would be available
Pat the Bat
in the field, he fell flat
but for power, one fat cat
and that’s that
To sign a one-day contract, he should have to play one game. That would be more meaningful than something useless like this. He can suck it up and play once more for the fans.
I hope he writes a book about his exploits on the field and the ridiculous stories I’ve heard about him off the field.
Overall he carried the Giants to the postseason even though he had a horrible playoff series.
1 day contract? huh?
it’s just so he can officially retire as a Philly.
suppose he was a guy you had to see play to believe. maybe it was just from high expectations, but he never seemed to matter. two rings, you can’t deny. but it it looked like he was just along for the ride both times. the guy Tampa signed seemed like the real Pat Burrell to me.