Outfielder Eric Thames announced his retirement from professional baseball over social media on Thursday.
Thames, 36, played six seasons with four teams in Major League Baseball. He also competed in the Korean Baseball Organization and Nippon Professional Baseball Organization.
“I’ve been so blessed over these last 14 years to call baseball my job,” Thames wrote on Instagram. “The friendships that will last a lifetime, the memories that I’ll never shut up about (and those that I’m sworn to secrecy to take to my grave).”
Thames was selected by the Toronto Blue Jays in the seventh round of the 2008 MLB Amateur Draft. He made his debut with the Blue Jays in 2011 before being traded to the Seattle Mariners the following season.
Thames worked in the minors before venturing to the KBO in 2014 with the NC Dinos. He was named the league MVP in 2015 and led the league in homers the following season.
Thames signed a three-year, $19 million contract with the Milwaukee Brewers in 2017. He made an instant impact, recording career-high totals in homers (31) and RBIs (63).
Thames’ final season in the majors came with the Washington Nationals in 2020, although he played in just 41 games.
He batted .241 with 96 homers and 235 RBIs in 605 career games with the Blue Jays, Mariners, Brewers and Nationals.
Thames continued his career briefly with the Yomiuri Giants in 2021 before he sustained a ruptured Achilles.
–Field Level Media
