Oakland Athletics’ Barry Zito Officially Retires

At the age of 37, Barry Zito officially announced his retirement in a heartfelt and insightful editorial published by The Players’ Tribune. In his piece titled What Baseball Taught Me, he reflects on the many years he spent playing the game, and his takeaways from that experience. His career was a rollercoaster ride.

Zito thanked Bay Area fans for their rousing support during the highs of his career. He described everything from his Cy Young campaign in 2002 to his Game 1 World Series start as “euphoric highs” of his career.

He also revealed the struggles he had while coping with the lows in his career, remembering that his own fans would boo and shout obscenities at him while he sat in the dugout. He exposes some of his innermost feelings when explaining that he used to cope with the disappointment of his 2008 season by having conversations with his mother over the phone, but she passed away later that year; Zito was left grieving in ways only some of us can imagine.

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But in his retirement note, Zito pivots and explains that baseball is symbolic of everything that having dreams stands for. He writes, “…the common man stands a chance at succeeding at it”, and quite accurately notes that, at some point, everybody wonders if they could make contact on a 90 MPH fastball, or if they could throw a pitch that fools an accomplished power-hitter.

Through baseball, his lows helped him build character, he coped with devastating loss, and the sport he loved gave him some opportunities to celebrate his accomplishments as well. Life behaves much in the same way, and Zito’s reflection is emblematic of a journey to find oneself that many of us are taking.

I am personally excited for Zito. He beautifully writes that finding fulfillment in oneself is a battle so much greater than achieving success, fame, or money. Many professional athletes achieve all of these things, but then they lead a tragic life after sports. Zito is beginning retirement with a sense of fulfillment and everything to live for, and for that, we salute you.

And Barry, if you’re reading this, I will happily offer you a constructive and thoughtful critique of any of your songs, any time.