Everyone Says Goodbye: Baseball Folk React To Tek-tirement

Photo by Michael Ivins/Boston Red Sox

I loved reading all of the well-wishes from baseball players and operations personnel that have had the opportunity to work with, play with, or play against Jason Varitek over his career.

The Full Count blog at weei.com has a bunch of well-wishes, but these are my favorites:

“I want to congratulate Jason Varitek, a.k.a “Johnny Unitas fl at-top hair cut” on a remarkable career and mostly for being part of the fi rst World Series in 2004 with Sox Nation. It seems like yesterday we were in our hotel rooms on the road hitting with a pizza box going over our stances in our underwear during our struggles offensively. But above all, he’s a true professional, a true teammate and, best yet, an even better person. I wish him much success in the up and coming real world and we’ll see you soon with powder and an ear piece on TV.” – Kevin Millar, Red Sox teammate from 2003-05, current MLB Network analyst.

Count on Millar to say something that will give me nightmares. The image of him and Tek standing around in their underwear practicing hitting with a pizza box? Yeah, that's not burned into my vault of mental images. Thanks for that, Kevin.

”Jason Varitek will always have a prominent place in Red Sox history. He caught more games as a Red Sox and helped the team win their fi rst World Series in 86 years. I am happy for him and proud of his accomplishments. Congratulations Jason!” – Carlton Fisk, Hall of Fame catcher, Red Sox Hall of Famer, played with Boston from 1969-1980.

To me, I like seeing the enthusiasm in Carlton Fisk's praise of Tek. Not many other folks used an exclamation point. John Valentin was the only other person to exclaim his appreciation of Tek (and he did it twice). In all seriousness though, there's something extra special in Fisk's praise because he was the catcher that set the bar for Tek. Call me strange, but that's very cool to me.

Watching Tek's retirement speech was hard for me. I probably teared up as much as he did (I'm a little bit of a crybaby). Today I wear my Varitek jersey in honor of my favorite baseball player. Congratulations again, Tek. What else can I say? I'll miss you.

How To Say Goodbye To Your Captain: Jason Varitek's Best Moments

It was inevitable. Varitek wasn't going to play forever, and I knew it. My hope was that I'd never have to watch him play for another team. Well, with the announcement that he is going to retire on Thursday, the Captain has granted me one last wish. He played his entire major league career as a member of the Red Sox, and he should leave the game as a member of the Red Sox. I hate to think he'll be gone, but if he has to leave, this is the way to do it.

I wouldn't care about baseball if it weren't for Tek. He was the hook that drew me in, and it will be hard for me to love this team as much without him on it. A touch dramatic? Sure. But that's what I'm all about. In honor of Varitek's 15 years with the Sox, I wanted to recount some of the legacy he leaves behind and highlight just what a significant part of the Red Sox organization he's become. This is going to be long-winded, so here's your chance to get out now.....

Ok. Too late. Let's do this.

• Tek is the only player from Georgia Tech to have his number (33) retired.
• He is the only player in history to play in/on the Little League World Series, the college World Series, the Olympic baseball team, and Major League World Series

• There have been 1645 players in the Red Sox organization since 1901. There have been 19 team captains in that time span. Only one other catcher has been made captain in team history (Deacon McGuire in 1908), and he only lasted one season as the captain.

• Since 1923, there have been four team captains: Foxx (1940-1942), Yastrzemski (1969-1983), Rice (1985-1989), and Varitek (2005-2011). Yaz was the only captain in history who served a longer tenure than Tek.

• Jason is the only Red Sox catcher to ever have caught 1,000 games, his 1,000 being played on July 31, 2006. He finishes with 1,418 games as a catcher and 1,546 total games (the other 128 games were split between DH'ing and pinch hitting)

• He has played in more postseason games than any other Sox player in history. He has played in 63 games over the course of 14 series.
• Jason has the most post-season home runs for a catcher in history with 11. Johnny Bench and Javier Lopez each hit 10.
• He has the most opening day starts for a catcher in team history, starting in 10 straight opening days (2000-2009)

• Tek is the only catcher in MLB history to have caught 4 no-hitters (Hideo Nomo, Derek Lowe, Clay Buchholz, and Jon Lester)
• Devern Hansack's rain-shorted game on October 1st, 2006 could have possibly been #5 for Tek.
• He has also caught 8 one-hitters and  20 two-hitters.

• Appearances on Sox All-time lists include
• 9th for games played (1546)
• 9th for doubles (306)
• 10th for RBI's (757)

• 9th for extra base hits (513)
• 9th for sac flies (43)
• 10th for intentional walks (59)

• 4th for strikeouts (1216)
• 4th for hit by pitches (61)

• His professional resume includes:
• three All-Star appearances
• 2005 Gold Glove and Silver Slugger Awards
• Two World Series rings (but you all knew that)

• From 1997 to August 1999, Tek wore #47
• Since then, he's donned that old familiar #33 that we know so well.

• Jason hit his first grand slam on August 5, 2005. His second one didn't technically count towards his career stats as it happened on March 8, 2006 during the World Baseball classic. His third came against the Yankees on April 25, 2009.

• Back-to-back-to-back-to-back home runs have occurred only seven times in major league history. Tek became part of this phenomenon on April 22, 2007 against the Yankees, being the fourth player in a row to hit a home run (other players were Manny Ramirez, JD Drew, and Mike Lowell)

• Tek has only been ejected from a game five times in his career. The most memorable one?
• He is the only Red Sox player to feed his glove to Alex Rodriguez.

For all the moments we've shared... the good times and the not so good times... for the professionalism, for the game calling, for all you've brought to your team, I salute you, Jason Varitek. Thank you for all those summer evenings we've spent together at Fenway. I truly hope to see #33 hanging from the Fenway facade, but if it never comes to be, we'll always have the memories. You'll always be the captain to me.

This Just In: Tek Set To Retire

According to the Boston Globe, Jason Varitek has announced that he will retire on Thursday.

I have three days to get my 'goodbye Tek' post ready. For now, I await further information

Beckett Blabs: Pitcher Opens Up About Priorities

Quick quiz. You're a major league pitcher. Your wife is expecting. Your team is faltering. You make a ton of money. Where should your focus be?

A) Baseball. All baseball and nothing but baseball.
B) Family. Wife and child have to come first.
C) The caloric count of your last meal.

The baseball-centric of my mind would like to believe the answer is A, but the logical side of me realizes that it's really B. I wanted the Red Sox to do well last season as much as any fan, but I will never EVER fault Josh Beckett for saying that his wife and daughter became his number one priority last season. I'm sure traveling with the team when your wife is eight or nine months pregnant must be hard. Especially for the first child. I would (and I'm sure he would) think less of him as a human being if he weren't slightly distracted. And he should never have to apologize for that.

It's nice that Josh came out and responded to so much of the criticism against him. Not for nothing, I think he did a damn good job hiding the fact that he had an ankle injury. Some may question the validity of the ankle problems, (and I may be one hundred percent wrong about this) but Beckett really doesn't strike me as the type to lie over something like that. Straight shooter is the phrase that comes to mind when thinking about him. He's crass and grumpy. If you're going to be crass and grumpy and tell people things they don't want to hear, you're probably not making up an ankle injury to use as a scapegoat. Again, I could be wrong. That's how I feel.

We're going into a new season. Josh is coming off the best year of his career. He's had time to rehab any lingering issues with that ankle. His wife and daughter are both presumably healthy, and he seems to have his head in the right place. Media, please stop asking Josh to apologize for last year. Let's just let him get on with THIS season and be happy with that.

No Drinking In The Clubhouse: Bobby Bans Beer

And Tito thinks it's just a public relations stunt. I'm sort of inclined to agree with him, but at the same time, I believe it's a PR stunt that needed to be done.  I don't know what really will go on in that clubhouse this season, but if they didn't come out and say that they were enforcing stricter rules for the players, that's just more for the media to bitch about.

Now do I actually think that grown men need to be told that they can't have a beer once in a while? Not really. They should know when they should and shouldn't be cracking open a cold one. I've made my thoughts on drinking during games clear. I don't think the players should be drinking during games, even when they aren't playing. If you're getting paid millions of dollars to play a game, the least you could do is try to take it as seriously as the people who pay to watch you play. Not all of the people who pay to watch you play, of course. I'd say the average serious fan, not the die hard fanatics who live and die with every pitch. Actually, I'd like to know that the players are taking their jobs at least as seriously as I take mine. It's not that much to expect from a bunch of adults.

There's something about Valentine that I like. I have to reserve judgement because we haven't, you know, seen any games yet. I liked Tito's style, and even though Bobby's is apparently much, much different, I think it might work. I want to believe that the changes will make a difference. According to almost every member of the media around this time last year, the Sox were a 100 win team. Yes, there have been changes and I think some of those changes have made the team a slight bit weaker, but I don't think they're an 80 win team. We need focus from the players, and we need luck. You gotta have a little luck on your side, you know.

Anyway, I like hearing that Ortiz is backing up his new manager. Even if he truly does not believe in what Bobby V. is saying, as long as he comes out and keeps up the united front, I'm happy. Now let's see the rest of the team buy-in and we'll be ready to roll. There's a bunch of talent on the Sox... if we have to treat them like children to make them live up to their potential, so be it.

Ryan Braun: Now Innocent?

So Ryan Braun becomes the first person in MLB history to overturn a drug suspension. Not because he was innocent, but because the samples were tainted. He was so sure from the very beginning that it would get overturned, and he was right. So that means he's innocent, right?

On an interesting note, MLB has already issued a statement to say that they 'vehemently disagree' with the reversal of the suspension. Obviously, they saw something in his original tests that convinced them he was guilty of taking banned substances. Of course, I'm too skeptical of Bud Selig's operation to just agree with his office just because they think we should. I'm actually more apt to believe that anything they say is a lie or is wrong. That's just all the years of drug cover ups and doing everything against the best interest of baseball, is all.

Not to go all conspiracy theory here (ok, I'm going all conspiracy theory here), but Braun was so sure that the sample was tampered with. Maybe faced with a drug test he knew he couldn't pass, he tampered with his own sample. I don't know what happened, and I don't know if Braun is actually clean or not, but what I do know is that most people will be suspicious of him for the rest of his career. It's a shame, but that's how it has to be.

Either way, unless MLB can overturn the non-bias third party's decision to remove Ryan's suspension, Mr. Braun can hold his head high... or something... that he'll get to play those fifty games. And he'll have those fifty more games this year to see everyone staring at him like he's done something wrong. Oh, the 'post-steroid' age....

Fausto Carmona Does Not Exist: But The Guy Who Plays Him On TV Does

I hadn't heard about this prior to today, so excuse me if I am once again late for the party. Meet Roberto Hernandez Heredia, the pitcher formerly known as Fausto Carmona.

Apparently, last month Roberto was arrested on charges of using a false identity to obtain a visa. He's since been put on the Indians' restricted list, but is hoping to receive a pardon so he can rejoin his baseball team. Oh yeah, and he's also three years older than he was claiming. Huge surprise there, right?

I blame the Indians for this. I mean, I blame Roberto first and foremost, but I blame the Indians for not doing their due diligence on this guy. I don't want to accuse all Dominican players of falsifying their information to come play in the states, but it seems to happen on a pretty regular basis. And the players that do this are giving their fellow Dominicans a bad rep. Maybe back in the day, it was an easier crime to get away with, but there's so much media and so much connectivity through the internet that if you are any kind of recognizable character, your every move can be traced.

I hope the young baseball players take heed... it seems like a good idea to tell your team that you're younger. Unfortunately, when the truth comes out as it so often does, you just end up looking like an ass.
It's fine. My only vivid memory of Fausto Roberto Carmona Hernandez Heredia is this:

Yup. That's Fausto's reaction to giving up JD Drew's 2007 ALCS grand slam. Thanks for the memories, whatever your name is!