Five years removed from his last big league appearance, 50-year-old Bartolo Colon officially announced his retirement after 21 seasons Sunday at a news conference at Citi Field.
“My first home was Cleveland,” Colón said through an interpreter during a pregame news conference. “But now I’m here with the Mets and I feel really comfortable here.”
Colon began his 21-year odyssey in the majors in 1997 with Cleveland and went on to pitch for the Expos, White Sox, Angels, Red Sox, Yankees, Athletics, Mets, Braves, Twins and Rangers. He last pitched in the majors with Texas in 2018.
He had a career record of 247-188 with a 4.12 ERA in 565 games (552 starts). He threw 3,461 2/3 innings with 38 complete games and 13 shutouts, striking out 2,535 batters, walking 948 and posting a 2.67 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
A four-time All-Star, Colon twice won 20 games in a season. In 2005 and pitching for the Angels, Colon went 21-8 with a 3.48 ERA and won the American League Cy Young Award.
He made 17 postseason appearances (10 starts) and was 3-5 with a 3.49 ERA. He pitched in only one World Series in 2015 with the Mets, who lost to the Kansas City Royals in five games.
On May 7, Colon threw out the first pitch at Citi Field before the game between the Mets and Rockies to mark the seven-year anniversary of his first, and only, MLB home run off San Diego Padres righty James Shields.
Colon, who at 42 years and 349 days became the oldest player to hit his first major-league homer, recalled the moment Sunday.
“The only thing I could think about when I was running the bases was those bases were getting further and further away,” Colon said.
Terry Collins, Colon’s manager in New York, presented the pitcher with his framed No. 40 jersey after a news conference attended by Colon’s family and friends.
–Field Level Media