[Ed. note: When should a player retire? It's a difficult and frustratingly subjective question. Bob Broeg SABR Chapter President Jim Rygelski discussed some "what-if" scenarios for a few of the greats, like Stan Musial and Mickey Mantle, at this year's Hot Stove Luncheon.]
One of the toughest decisions a major league baseball player, especially a great one, will make is when to retire. By the time he begins to admit in his mid- to late thirties that his skills are lessening and that he may lose his starter’s status to a younger player, the veteran has probably already been a professional athlete for two decades. And for as long as he can remember into his boyhood, all he’s done is play baseball.

Few things for the fan are more painful than to watch a once great player struggle in his twilight years. Who hasn’t winced at seeing the film clip of Babe Ruth in one of his last seasons with the Yankees striking out with a terrible swing then trying to keep himself upright by bouncing around on one foot because he’d pulled a muscle. Who wasn’t embarrassed for Bob Gibson when, during the last month of his career in 1975, he gave up a grand slam home run to Pete LaCock, who batted .229 that year.

Yogi Berra, who managed Willie Mays on the Mets during Mays’ last season, 1973, recalled the Hall of Famer that year in this way: “I managed Willie Mays … although he wasn’t Willie Mays anymore. He was 41 and couldn’t do what he used to, so it was a tough situation. He wanted to go out on a high note in New York, where he’d started his career. He had a couple of embarrassing moments on the field. That wasn’t the Willie Mays anyone wanted to remember, so he quit, a couple seasons later than he should’ve.”

Willie Mays was able to help the Giants win the Western Division crown in 1971, but he wasn’t able to help either them or the Mets much in 1972 and ’73. When Mickey Mantle announced his retirement on March 1, 1969, forgoing his plans to play one more season, he stated what many fans and teammates had privately thought about the Mick’s declining abilities. Yet, in his comments at a retirement press conference, Mantle gave several reasons for hanging it up that showed how classy he was for considering not only his reputation but also the well being of his teammates and the goodwill of the fans who still rooted for him:(Continue reading)

[Ed. note: Many baseball biographers and historians have documented the tragedy of the 1919 Chicago "Black Sox." Less well-known is the story of their opponent, the Cincinnati Reds. Longtime SABR member Steve Gietschier talked about some of the details of that team in "They Beat the Black Sox: The 1919 Cincinnati Reds," presented at last Saturday's Hot Stove Luncheon.]

Edd Roush loathed spring training until long after he retired from the diamond. “Why should I go down there and fuss around,” he used to grumble. “Twist an ankle, or break a leg. I did my own spring training, hunting quail and rabbits . . . .” Roush didn’t catch all of spring training until long after 1931, his last year as a player. In his sixties, he and his wife would leave the Indiana cold for Bradenton, then the Florida home of the Milwaukee Braves. Each morning Roush would don a uniform, work out a bit, and prepare for the annual old-timers’ game. But in the afternoons, he would escape to the press box, purposely sitting with his back to the field to show his disdain for modern baseball. And occasionally, when asked, he would talk about the 1919 World Series.

In the summer of 1912, Roush, then 19, signed a professional contract with Evansville of the Kitty League. The following year he hit .317 in 89 games and gained the attention of Charles Comiskey, who purchased his contract for $3,000. Comiskey kept Roush in Chicago awhile before sending him to Lincoln in the Western League. Over the following winter, Roush signed with the Indianapolis Hoosiers of the upstart Federal League and helped them win the pennant. In 1915, the Federal League’s final season, the Hoosiers became the Newark Peppers and finished fifth. Players from the disbanded league were put on the market, and the Giants purchased three Peppers: Benny Kauff, Bill McKechnie, and Roush, and in July 1916, John McGraw traded McKechnie, Roush, and Christy Mathewson to the Reds. Roush would play eleven seasons in Cincinnati but win the pennant only once, in 1919. (continue reading)