Jorge Posada To Hang Up His Cleats Tomorrow

Jorge Posada leaves the game
as a part of Yankee lore.

One of the great Catchers in the game is retiring tomorrow.

Jorge Posada will announce his retirement at Yankee Stadium 2 days after the Giants punched their ticket to the Super Bowl.  Posada, 40, has played his whole 17 year career in pinstripes.  Over those 17 seasons, Posada hit .273 with 275 homers and 1,065 RBI.  He won 4 World Series titles and was a major piece of the Yankees' run of success in the 2000's.

Posada was mentored in his early seasons by then catcher and current Yanks manager Joe Girardi.  Prior to the 2000 season, Girardi left to play for the Cubs and Posada was given the starting role.  Posada won four of his five Silver Slugger Awards and made four of his five All-Star Games appearances in the four years that followed.  In 2003, he hit 30 Home Runs and drove in 101 runs, career highs in both categories.  His 30 Homers tied Yogi Berra for most in club history.

One of the highlights of Posada's career came on May 17th, 1998 when he caught David Wells's perfect game against the Minnesota Twins.

In 2007, Posada hit .338 with 20 Homers and 90 Runs Batted In.  He also registered 42 doubles and 171 hits, career highs in both categories.  He won his fifth Silver Slugger and appeared in his fifth All-Star Game.  Joe Torre allowed Posada to manage the last game of the 2007 campaign.  The Yankees won Posada's managerial debut 10-4 against the Baltimore Orioles.

Before the 2009 season, the Yankees went all in by acquiring players such as C.C. Sabathia, Mark Teixiera, A.J. Burnett and Nick Swisher.  The move payed off and as a result, Posada won his fifth and final ring.

After that 2007 campaign however, Posada began to decline rapidly.  Injuries hampered the rest of his career.  His 2008 season ended in July, when he underwent shoulder surgery.  In the seasons following, he went back and forth between Catcher, First Base, DH and the bench.

He came back in 2009 and hit the first Home Run in the new Yankee Stadium.  It was a good start to the last season of a decade in which he could easily be considered the best offensive Catcher.  In 2010, he hit grand slams in back to back games and collected his 1,000th RBI.  2010 was a sad year for his Yankee family.  It saw the loss of longtime announcer Bob Shepard and George Steinbrenner.   The following offseason, he underwent surgery to repair a torn meniscus.

2011 was the most trying and controversial year for Jorge.  Posada had gotten off to a slow start and was moved to 9th in the order for the May 14th game against the Boston Red Sox.  He had asked to be removed from the lineup, which had sparked a small media circus in the Bronx.  The rest of the season had positive moments, but were still a struggle for Posada.  He was benched in June and finished the season with a .235 average 14 Homers and 44 RBI.  However, he finished 2011 with a bang as the starting Designated Hitter in the ALDS against the Detroit Tigers.  He posted a .429 Average and a .579 On-Base Percentage.

With the retirement of Posada, one more member of this generation's Yankees have hung 'em up.  Andy Pettite and Jorge Posada are gone.  Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera are the last pieces of those great teams from the late 90's and early 2000's.  Eventually, they will have to go and the next generation of Yankees will have their day.  Players such as C.C. Sabathia, Robinson Cano, Brett Gardner, Michael Pineda, Ivan Nova and Francisco Cervelli will have their time and opportunity to the list of great who have put on pinstripes very soon.  Posada's retirement is one step closer to the end of an era.

So one last time.  Hip Hip...JORGE!!!!