Former big league second baseman Gordon Beckham announced his retirement this evening (via Twitter). “Since my good friend Buster Posey decided to retire this year, I am officially announcing I will be retiring as well. I want to make sure we get into the Hall of Fame the same year. Start the countdown!!,” Beckham wrote in a tongue-in-cheek statement.
Selected by the White Sox with the eighth overall pick in 2008 coming out of the University of Georgia, Beckham entered pro ball as a very highly-touted prospect. Baseball America ranked him the game’s #20 overall farmhand entering the 2009 campaign, with that offseason counting as his only one with prospect eligibility. That’s because the righty-hitting infielder spent barely any time in the minor leagues, reaching the big leagues after just 59 games on the farm.
Beckham, now 35, debuted in June 2009 and was essentially pencilled into the White Sox’s everyday lineup from that point forward. He hit .270/.347/.460 with 14 home runs across 430 plate appearances in his age-22 campaign, finishing fifth in that season’s AL Rookie of the Year balloting. Beckham would spend the next few seasons manning the keystone in the South Side of Chicago, but he never recaptured the above-average offensive form he’d shown during his debut season.
Over the next four-plus years, Beckham tallied 2467 plate appearances and hit .240/.299/.359. In August 2014, the White Sox traded him to the Angels. He slashed an impressive .268/.328/.429 in 26 games while playing a utility role down the stretch for the playoff-bound Halos. Despite that solid finish, Los Angeles non-tendered Beckham after the season. He returned to the White Sox as a free agent but struggled to a .209/.275/.332 mark in 237 trips to the plate.
From that point forward, Beckham bounced between a few teams as a veteran journeyman type. He split the 2016 campaign between the Braves and Giants, then appeared with the Mariners in the 2017 and 2018 seasons. Beckham played for the Tigers in 2019, suiting up in a bit more than half of the team’s games. That proved to be his final MLB action, as subsequent minor league deals with the Padres and Mets didn’t result in big league opportunities.
Beckham didn’t become the All-Star caliber player the White Sox and their fans might’ve envisioned after his first couple years in pro ball. Yet he appeared in 11 consecutive MLB seasons between 2009-19, spending more than half that time as a regular. The Atlanta native hit .237/.300/.367 across 3782 plate appearances. He hit 80 home runs, drove in 351 runs and scored 420 times. Beckham earned a bit more than $12MM in career earnings, per Baseball Reference. MLBTR congratulates him on his career and wishes him the best in retirement.
Hall of famer, first ballot.
At least he is married to Posh Spice.
No, oh, never mind.
Look at this data. I would potentially make the argument that Gordon Beckham had a pretty impressive career.. sabr.org/journal/article/the-chances-of-a-drafted-…
You can’t quote me on this, but I believe that only 10% of minor league players make it to the major leagues. He made $12 million throughout his career. That means he made about $1.2 million a year. With him being at the top tax margin rate of 35%-40% and since he had to pay his agent a percentage of his earnings, he probably netted $500K-$600K a year. Obviously, he wasn’t nearly famous enough to get any endorsements…
From 2013-2015, he made $2.925 million, $4.175 million, and $2 million. That equals out to $3.03 million and that’s 9 years ago. With inflation and the fact that athletes are getting paid more than ever now, he would probably average $4.5 million for those three seasons with him making $6 million in 2014. Someone on here should do the research and see how many players selected in the first 20 rounds, so first 614 picks, and see how many players were more successful than him.
If he lived fairly frugally and put all of his money into mutual funds, with how well the stock market has done in the past few years even with the last two years being very poor, he would be worth $20 million today at age 37. Not bad, right?
My guess is that if you look at the data, he probably performed more like an early second round pick, which means he still underperformed, but if you look at the standard deviation, he didn’t underperform by much. So, to put what I just said in layman’s terms, that means from where he was drafted, he was supposed to have a career in the 95th percentile, and instead, he had a career in the 90th percentile. That’s not quite negligible, but still not that big of a difference.
I will analyze his career in my 12th book, “Relatively Speaking: When and When Not to Compare Yourself to The Rest.”
The average MLB player makes $3 million in their lifetime, so he outperformed the average MLB player by 400%.
Now that’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time
so if he suited up for 83 games, was he naked for the other 79?
Dad jokes! My 1st grader asked me the other day, “what do you call a dinosaur fart?” A blast from the past.
It made me chuckle.
how fast does the smell of a fart travel?
about a hundreth of a second slower than the speed of sound
He had 807 more hits in his career than anyone posting here… bravo on making it to the show and sticking around for more than a decade.
He was an unspectacular MLB player that pulled in $12 MM over his career. Not the best evidence for the union’s claim that the players should be paid more.
$12 million over 10 seasons isn’t exactly a lot. He stuck in the league because he was versatile and a good defender.
$12MM over 10 years is not a lot? Someone needs to come back to reality.
@ myaccount2
So how much more do you feel Beckham should have earned for his contributions?
He’s saying that averages out to be about 1.2 million per year over those 10 years. That’s not bank breaking money but it is a very solid living and someone that has the talent to play on a major league roster should be able to make that much. Just because most of us will probably be lucky to earn half of that in our working adult life doesn’t mean it’s a lot for a professional baseball player.
Keep that lockout happening. a AAA player could have had a better chance. after beekmans 6th year.
807 seven hits doesn’t stop him from being a total bust. He didn’t work hard his whole life to reach the majors just to get 807 hits, that’s for sure. At least he has a sense of humor about how bad he was though.
Maybe that’s more hits than I have, but I’m still way better at my career than he was at his lol. At least some of us who post here, have that lol
Not a bad life he carved for himself. Kudos and enjoy the next chapter.
Funny retirement note, nice little career. Good for him.
is Buster a HoF?
His peak is fantastic but him bowing out early impacts the overall numbers . Thoughts ?
as I’ve said before, prolly a veterans committee type. could hang around the whole ten though.
Buster might be a first ballot ngl. Dodgers fan, hate the guy as a giant but has such the peak that he might just pull it off
They are both Georgia boys, it probably was said in jest.
He’s got a ton of hardware 3x WS champ, 2x Comeback POTY, 5x Silver Slugger, MVP, Rookie of the Year, Gold Glove, 7x All-Star. His numbers stack up well against other hall of fame catchers with the only knock really at all is the length of his career. I think he gets in but I wouldn’t be shocked if it isn’t first ballot
The media seem to adore the guy so I’d say yes, likely.
Catchers cannot and are not expected to have the same longevity as other positions. Posey is #12 all time in catcher OPS, throw in the championships and the fact that he hasn’t upset any writers and he’s a certainty.
Have to say yes. Players just don’t have 20 year long careers anymore to have huge stats. 12-14 years are what you have to base them on.
A player with a 20-year career was elected to the Hall of Fame just days ago.
If the DH didn’t exist none of us would have even remembered David Ortiz.
If baseball didn’t exist, none of us would be commenting on this non-existent website.
But both baseball and the DH do exist, so we live in what we perceive to be our current reality.
Missed the point. Ortiz wouldn’t have played 20 years without the DH. His career would have been a short one.
As people have been saying It’s rare to have a 20 year career these days. Only guys that have the power bats can extend their careers by DHing. The others can’t.
W
Lee said players don’t have 20-year careers any more. I cited a high-profile who did. Whether due to the DH or not is irrelevant. The DH has been in the AL for nearly 50 years.
Should have been specific. Typically you are not seeing careers go past 14 years.
My thoughts are at an almost 45 career WAR probably not. But when you think about how that’s about 13th all time for a catcher … it does warrant consideration.
But to me Mauer was borderline and he’s at 55 career WAR. Either way how the heck can Kenny Lofton have a 69 career WAR while playing gold glove defense at a premium position and not even get past his first ballot. That’s a disgrace. So to me before we even debate guys who don’t even have a full 45 WAR, we should be figuring out why Lofton got no conservation.
Lofton got bumped because there was a severe logjam of players on the ballot, and the HOF wants players inducted every year, so the honor gets parsed among those chosen by the baseball writers and the era committee. What really sucks is the players who gain entry posthumously.
that is an amazing career. career war 5.5 and still played 11 years in the bigs! wow! enjoy life with your family!
Technically he announced his retirement on a baseball podcast a year ago. He just never said it on any of his social media accounts til now.
Wow huge baseball news but not unexpected ok guys the girls stopped reading this comment. Did you guys cry at the end of bridge to terabithia be honest
Give me a discount on some propane and I’ll tell ya
And propane accessories
I’ve heard him on the air a few times. He’s got a chance for a future in broadcasting if he so chooses.
He’s OK on pre and post game shows. But his in-game work as a color analyst is truly brutal.
Don’t know one thing about him, other than his stereotypical chin jaw from those old time gangster movies. See? Ya mug ya.
Despite that complete lack, I clearly foresee Gordon Beckham remaining in baseball for a long time post-playing retirement, No idea why I’m thinking that, other than maybe it’s his chin jaw.
who cars
People who know how to properly spell, use capitalisation, punctuation and periods to end their sentences.
Spelling?
Capitalization, maybe?
Capitalisation may not pass your spell check, but it is a proper spelling in British English.
There, they’re, their!
You mean “to spell properly.”
Eric:
Are those your favorite bands?
I car from time to time.
See you miss the joke opportunity of “I car from tim to tim”
1877kars4kids
thanks now that song will be stuck in my head for a week
you know have acapulco taco pie in your head
This guy used all nine lives.For a min there I thought maybe another Boone or Kent.Not sure what happened after yr 1 but word is he got more arse then a toilet seat so I’m guessing he’ll have fond memories regardless if he could hit or not!
While Beckham never quite matched that rookie-season slash line, he did was more productive for much longer than all but a handful of first rounders selected after him that year.
Gerritt Cole (28), Jake Odorizzi (32), Lance Lynn (39), Wade Miley (43), and Logan Forsythe (46) are the five that I would say at a glance obviously outperformed Beckham.
That’s a nice way to say he was still a total bust
See you in Cooperstown Gordon! Well deserved!
His power just didn’t transfer from college when he went from aluminum to wood bats. Led through country with 26 long balls his last year in Athens. I think he chased that power after it didn’t come naturally in the pros and his average fell with it. Still a DGD.
That’s a great line – “Hall of Fame the same year.” Refreshing to see an athlete that does not take himself too seriously. Good luck, GB, see you in Cooperstown (tickets are on me).
When Beckham crashed into Connor Gillespie and Conor dropped the ball on a pop up was the most upset I’ve ever heard Hawk Harrelson, he kept saying “you’ve got to be bleeping me”, hysterical
Josie’s on a vacation
Far away….
Come around and talk it over
No one did less with more
Angels. Shohei needs a buddy. Marsh in left. Trout in Center. Suzuki in right. Adell gone for pitching.
I love it when players show some humor and humility. I also like him in his stint here.
Happy retirement.
Why do we even have the veterans committee? I’d love to see that abolished. If you aren’t good enough to make it under the normal rules, then why on earth should you be able to circumvent that years later? I’m case the writers made a horrible mistake? There’s got to be another way to go about that. Maybe every ; years or 8 or 10 whatever you want to make it … they can vote on re-balloting someone. Or maybe every year the same writers who currently are voting, can vote to re-ballot one player. That would make more sense than letting these old timers put people in who have no business being in. Rizzuto, Mazeroski, Baines, Hodges etc …
Abolish the BBWAA. It’s a bunch of nerd writers who flamed out in little league but couldn’t move on from the game. At least the veterans committee is run by former mlb players who know what it takes to be great.
only let hall of famers vote. let them vote people in, or vote people out
Why is this even news. He is like a glorified Tyler Wade from the Yankees
Not all news is interesting. But it’s still news. It at least sparked some legit conversation about the halls of fame and buster posey. I guess that’s how talking sports kind of works. Since this website is for baseball junkies, even something like Beckham retiring has sparked up a conversation. Saying Beckham retiring isn’t news, is kind of like saying what the hell does Tyler Wade have to do with anything
Thought he retired last year?
Ill always remember Beckham as a player ruined by Kenny Williams and Greg Walker. Beckham was a gap hitter when he came up and was playing third, but the Sox (Williams and Walker) wanted to tinker with his swing to try to get him to get 20-30 homers.. Should have left his bat alone and at left him at third (even though he said he was not comfortable there). Would he have been a HoF? Most likely not, but would have been a solid player at third.