While he had not seen the majors since 2011, Edgar Renteria waited until today to officially announce his retirement, reports Andrew Simon of MLB.com. After 16 big league seasons, the shortstop took his time deciding to hang it up: "I feel satisfied with what I did, my heart is telling me that's enough and it's time to retire. You have to know when to retire and that's why I took a year and a half to rest and think about what I was going to do."
Originally signed by the then-Florida Marlins out of his native Colombia, Renteria went on to post both sustained solid performance and great moments on the game's biggest stage. It all began with a stellar rookie campaign as a 19-year-old in 1996, when he logged a .309/.358/.399 line and finished second in the National League Rookie of the Year voting. After the Marlins dealt him to the Cardinals, Renteria punctuated his tenure in St. Louis with his best season, a 2003 campaign in which he hit a robust .330/.394/.480 and appeared in his third of five All-Star games. While Renteria failed to live up to expectations in Boston after agreeing to a 4-year, $40MM contract with the Red Sox, he bounced back to have two productive years with Atlanta before finishing his career with stints in Detroit, San Francisco, and Cincinnati.
Of course, Renteria will be most remembered for his World Series heroics. He hit a walk-off base knock in Game 7 of the 1997 Series to give the Marlins their first ever championship. Over a decade later, after struggling for much of his two-year tenure with the Giants and sitting for much of the postseason, Renteria came alive in the 2010 World Series. The shortstop capped his career by swatting a game-winning, series-clinching home run off of Cliff Lee and was named MVP. (Interestingly, Renteria also hit the ground ball out that ended the 2004 World Series.)
Renteria had been unofficially retired since declining several minor league contract offers last spring, making the announcement largely a formality for the 36-year-old. He earned over $85MM in his MLB career, in exchange for which he notched 140 home runs, 294 stolen bases, and a career .286/.343/.398 slash line over 9066 plate appearances.
