After Oakland’s wild-card loss, Adam Dunn says he plans to retire
This probably wasn’t how Adam Dunn imagined things would go.
Dunn was traded to the Oakland Athletics from the Chicago White Sox on Aug. 31 as Oakland looked to add postseason power. It was going to be the slugger’s first time in the playoffs in his 14-year career. He finished the regular season with 2,001 MLB games played, the most of any active player who hadn’t been to the postseason. His chance, finally, was here.
Then just about everything that could go wrong in that plan did — the A’s barely made the playoffs, sneaking in on the last day of the season. Faced with a do-or-die elimination game against the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday night, A’s skipper Bob Melvin didn’t put Dunn in the starting lineup. He wasn’t even called upon to pinch hit, though in a 12-inning game that the A’s lost 9-8, there were a few opportunities.
Dunn’s long-awaited trip to the postseason? It’s sort of like it never happened.
After the game, he lingered in the A’s clubhouse longer than most. Even though his was unblemished from a night on the bench, Dunn was the last A’s player to take off his uniform. Things went all wrong, but Dunn seemed to be soaking in every last moment.
Then he broke the news. This was it. He was retiring.
It’s not surprising news. Dunn, 34, had hinted at retirement already, which made his press for the postseason all the more special. He finishes with 462 homers, including five straight 40-home run seasons between 2004 and ’08 with the Cincinnati Reds. He’s 35th all-time in homers, tied with Jose Canseco.
Despite what had to be a disappointing day in many regards, Dunn wasn’t hanging his head and feeling sorry for himself. From Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle:
“It’s not disappointing at all,” Dunn said. “We had our chances to win and we didn’t.”
Manager Bob Melvin said he’d considered using Dunn in the spot where Alberto Callaspo delivered a pinch hit, but he figured that the Royals would have walked Dunn with first base open.
“I just didn’t think they would have pitched to him,” Melvin said.
Dunn said he was trying to figure out throughout the game where he might get a chance to pinch hit, “but things just didn’t line up where there was a situation where I would hit. Let’s not make a bigger deal than it is, it’s not. Bob Melvin is one of the best managers I’ve ever played for, I mean it, he’s as good as there is out there. He’s awesome. Awesome.”
The next obvious question is whether Dunn is a Hall of Famer. The popular opinion is no. He hit all those homers, but owns a lifetime .237 batting average. He struck out a lot, leading the league four times. And his defense (back when he was an outfielder or first baseman) was never all that good. But he had a knack for hitting the ball over the fence, and we always love that. Dunn was also a respected guy in the clubhouse, loved by teammates and reporters alike.
Last year, he helped finance the Oscar-winning movie “Dallas Buyers Club” and had a brief role as a bartender. He’s said he wants to be an entrepreneur after baseball, like Magic Johnson. Dunn made more than $112 million from MLB, so he’s got capital.
Sounds like, even though he’ll finally be hanging up his jersey, we haven’t seen or heard the last of Adam Dunn.
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Mike Oz is an editor for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz
