Storybook ending: Barry Zito announces his retirement
Oakland Athletics starter Barry Zito has thrown his last pitch in the majors. The 15-year veteran announced his retirement Monday in an article over at The Players’ Tribune.
The news doesn’t really come as a huge surprise. Zito was out of the majors in 2014, and attempted a comeback in 2015. He spent most of the year in the minors, but was finally called up in September as part of a gesture by the Athletics to celebrate his career.
The call up led to one of the coolest moments of the season. A 37-year-old Zito got to start against his former teammate, 40-year-old Tim Hudson, in Oakland. In his article, Zito calls that moment the “cherry on top” of his career.
He also talks about the highs and lows he experienced during his time on the mound. Zito was called up in 2000, and was immediately successful. In his first three seasons with Oakland, he received Rookie of the Year votes, down ballot MVP votes and won a Cy Young award. He settled in as an average to above average pitcher for the rest of his tenure with the Athletics.
In 2007, he left to sign with the San Francisco Giants. His time with San Francisco was basically doomed from the start, as Zito signed a seven-year, $126 million deal. That was the highest figure ever given to a pitcher at the time. Because of that, expectations were sky high.
Zito’s first two years with the Giants didn’t go well. His ERA ballooned to 4.53 in 2007, and 5.15 in 2008. Zito characterized 2008 as the toughest year of his life in his Players’ Tribune article.
The year 2008 was the toughest of my life so far. I was being told by strangers in public places just how terrible I was — my own fans in San Francisco yelling obscenities to my face while I was in the dugout. I even found myself ringing my mother at times because I was literally losing my mind and needed five minutes of solace with someone who understood me. But that year taught me something: If there was still a reason to smile at certain points throughout those painful days, and if everything I thought had defined me as a person was crumbling down and yet I was still standing, then maybe what I thought defined me truly did not. I came to realize that I was defining myself through my achievements on the field and through the opinions of other people. In reality, that was just the surface of who I really was.
He experienced mixed results his final five years in San Francisco. Following the end of his contract, Zito took a year off from the game in 2014. He would eventually return in 2015, setting the stage for his exceptional sendoff.
Over his 15 seasons, Zito posted a 4.04 ERA. He pitched 2,576 2/3 innings. Zito made three All-Star teams and won one Cy Young award. He also posted a 2.83 ERA over 10 postseason starts.
Zito will likely best be remembered as one of the three studs on those early 2000s Athletics staffs. With him, Hudson and Mulder, the Athletics went to the postseason in four straight years. While they didn’t win the World Series, the big three defined Oakland throughout that brief period.
Zito may have experienced tough times in the majors throughout his career, but he’ll always be beloved among Athletics fans. That’s not a bad way to go out, honestly.
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Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik
