Article: Torii Hunter To Retire

[D. Hocking]

 

It's also cool to see someone with impact retire in the off-season and not announce this will be their last season and every game and event becomes 'the last time' all throughout a season.

 

I am not sure what you mean by that... 

 

http://sportsnaut.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/0143.jpg

 

 

I thought it was a bad decision to bring him back -- I was wrong -- I think it ended up being a positive movie.  I am also glad he is not coming back - I think it might have had shades of Favre 2010.

 

Still kudos to him for a great career and retiring in a way that will not cloud the off-season or next season with speculation.

Edited October 27, 2015 by D. Hocking

[jokin]

 

He can retire knowing he left nothing on the field.

 

 

Funny how that phrase actually works both ways its stated:

 

 

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[Mike Sixel]

Good luck to him.

[Hambino the Great]

My son who is 10 years old was very sad after hearing that Tori was retiring.  He said"  We are going to suck now."  I had to explain to him how this was a good thing and it was time to embrace the youth movement in the outfield.  This thought of two things when he said that.  The first thing was boy kids are idiots and the second thing was Tori's positive attitude was contagious. 

 

Well now that I think about it I am sure the reason my son liked Tori so much was that he threw the third out into the RF and that ball just happened to make it ways to my sons glove.

 

Maybe he loan some personality to Joe?

[Otto von Ballpark]

It's also cool to see someone with impact retire in the off-season and not announce this will be their last season and every game and event becomes 'the last time' all throughout a season.

To be fair, Torii's approach amounted to practically the same thing by the end of the season (which frankly would have made it kind of annoying if he hadn't retired this offseason).

[James]

Congrats to Torii on a great career.  I have many wonderful memories of him playing with the Twins.  I'm sure that he'll go down in Twins history being considered a great player who played the game the right way and was a positive influence on all those around him.

 

Thanks for the memories, Torii.  Good luck in retirement.  

 

 

[Brandon]

I'm a little bummed. I think Torii had a legitimate hall of fame shot with 1500 RBI. He's 110 or so away. And yes that's along way off but I think he had a chance with 2 more seasons with 800 or so at bats.

[Otto von Ballpark]

I doubt that 1500 RBI would be that important.  First of all, there are plenty of recent non-HOF names above that threshold -- Sheffield, McGriff, Kent, Delgado -- plus a ton more just below it.

 

Second, as much as baseball loves its round numbers, I don't think there's a strong frame of reference for career RBI totals, meaning their predictive power is a lot lower than, say, 300 wins, 600 HR, or 3000 hits.  For example, I don't even know off hand the record for career RBI, or even the elite range for them unless I do some quick math in my head.  (The threshold of 1500 also feels a lot less "round" than 3000 or 300 or 600.)

[Shaitan]

 

Torii was a fun player to watch, but can we please shut down any hint of retiring his number. Admittedly, I'm biased towards only retiring the numbers of the best of the best, and think the Twins have already gone overboard with retiring numbers, but Hunter really shouldn't even be in that discussion.

 

I mostly agree with you, but I think the Twins Hall of Fame is where they get carried away more than on the retirement side.

 

I'm neutral on retiring his number, but it's not my decision to make (and it shouldn't be).

[Otto von Ballpark]

I could see them wanting to retire a number from the 2002-2010 era, but Mauer will cover more of that Twins period than Hunter.

[Longdistancetwins]

 

It's also cool to see someone with impact retire in the off-season and not announce this will be their last season and every game and event becomes 'the last time' all throughout a season.

 

Couldn't echo this more.  I've come to detest "farewell tours."  Thank you, Torii!

[Sano Doubter]

I was hoping that he would come back.  He was a great mentor to the young players.

[drjim]

I know this is potentially opening a can of worms on another controversial aspect of Hunter, but I thought it was very telling that Morneau showed up to his retirement press conference this afternoon.

 

Perhaps that fight between the two was vastly overrated.

[nicksaviking]

 

I know this is potentially opening a can of worms on another controversial aspect of Hunter, but I thought it was very telling that Morneau showed up to his retirement press conference this afternoon.

 

Perhaps that fight between the two was vastly overrated.

 

Is that the can of worms about how Torii isn't a good teammate?

 

Or the can of worms about how Morneau was probably in town to hammer out the framework of his new two year deal?

[Mike Sixel]

 

Is that the can of worms about how Torii isn't a good teammate?

 

Or the can of worms about how Morneau was probably in town to hammer out the framework of his new two year deal?

 

Thanks, thanks a lot, nick.....sigh.

[jimmer]

 

I know this is potentially opening a can of worms on another controversial aspect of Hunter, but I thought it was very telling that Morneau showed up to his retirement press conference this afternoon.

 

Perhaps that fight between the two was vastly overrated.

Perhaps Morneau is just an adult and got over it a long time ago.

[glunn]

Here is a nice article about today's ceremony:  http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseball/25364308/torii-hunters-retirement-press-conference-too-sore-to-play-anymore

 

It appears that he was having soreness problems:  "The last two years, I've been sore," Hunter said, responding to a question about what's different this time. "I've definitely been fighting some soreness. My wife has to push me out of bed. It took me an hour and a half or two hours to get warmed up just to stretch.

"I never thought I'd get there this soon. Forty? Man, It's time."