Juan Pierre officially retires after 14 MLB seasons

Veteran outfielder Juan Pierre has officially announced his retirement after 14 seasons in Major League Baseball, confirming a report from Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald.

Thanks for all the tweets keep them coming it’s true today I’m officially retiring today.Blessed and grateful to have played the game I love

— Juan Pierre (@JPBeastMode) February 27, 2015

The announcement comes as a mere formality, rather than a major surprise. The writing was on the wall for Pierre following a difficult year in 2013, which saw him hit just .247/.284/.305 across the board in 330 plate appearances. In fact, he seemed to be resigned to his fate in baseball following that season, understanding there wasn’t much demand for aging outfielders with limited offensive upside.

“They can come and take away my jersey right now, and I’ll be fine. I’ll be OK with it either way.”

Without a major league offer in hand, Pierre ended up sitting out the entire 2014 season. He didn’t appear on anybody’s radar this past winter either, so at 37 he’s officially ending his journey after appearing in 1,994 MLB games and winning one World Series championship with the then Florida Marlins in 2003.

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Though Cooperstown won’t be calling in five years, there’s still a lot to appreciate about Pierre’s career. In addition to his longevity, Pierre was remarkably durable and productive during the prime years of his career, which mostly came during his first stint in Miami (2003-2005). During that time, Pierre never missed a game and established single-season franchise records for hits (221), singles (184), triples (13), and at-bats (678).

Of course, Pierre’s biggest impact often came on the bases, where he racked up 614 career stolen bases. That ranks 18th in MLB history. He was able to steal so many bases because he was almost exclusively a singles hitter. Of his 2,217 career hits, 1,850 were singles. Pierre also drew nearly as many walks (464) as strikeouts (479), so pesky might be the best term used to describe his game.

Former #Cubs CF Juan Pierre is retiring. Say what you will about his game, but I never saw anybody work harder. Good dude.

— Bruce Miles (@BruceMiles2112) February 28, 2015

Those aren’t bad traits to have either.

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Pierre spent time with the Colorado Rockies, Marlins, Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago White Sox, and Philadelphia Phillies, and according to Baseball Reference, earned $57MM overall, or roughly $4MM per season. He finishes his career with a .295/.343/.361 slash line and a grand total of 18 home runs, which can only be put into perspective one way.  

Sammy Sosa hit two more home runs in the month of June, 1998, than Juan Pierre hit in his entire 14-year MLB career #Marlins

— clarkspencer (@clarkspencer) February 28, 2015

The Marlins have reportedly reached out to Pierre about re-joining the organization in an undetermined role. For now, though, it appears he’s content spending time with his family, which is a right he’s most certainly earned. 

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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813