Retirement Tours Need to Stop

[Vanimal46]

Maybe this charade has been around much longer than I remember, but over the last couple of years, everyone wants to get in on the retirement tour. The one that comes top of mind is Derek Jeter, who had videos, articles, and countless advertisements created just to celebrate his last year in the MLB. Mariano Rivera too, who came off of a torn ACL to go through a retirement tour.

 

Now this year, we already know David Ortiz is going to hang it up. And just yesterday, Kobe Bryant wrote EDIT: had his PR team write an adorable poem to announce this was his last season.

 

When did we decide we all need 6 months or more of lead time to prepare for an athlete to retire? Is it all about marketing and branding these days so these athletes can cash in once again before they hang it up?

 

I actually respect a guy like Torii more because he didn't announce a retirement tour, even though most of us were expecting it for the 2016 season.

 

/Rant over.

 

Thoughts on this sports epidemic?

[Squirrel]

I think it's fine to give your hometown fans some lead time. But taking it on the road? No. Unless you are an absolute god to the sport ... and that's not Jeter, Mo Rivera or Big Papi. Yes, some of these teams  and players have fans around the country. So what. If you are that big of a fan, find a way to get to Mecca to see your hero.

[Vanimal46]

Yeah that's what bothers me the most about these retirement tours, taking it on the road. Why would a Cincinnati Reds fan care that David Ortiz is playing his last game on their field in the middle of May? None the less, there will be a highlight video made for him at each stadium, a standing ovation, and a boat load of gifts. It really makes it seem like these players are bigger than the game, which they most certainly are not. 

[ashbury]

I'm a little bored with the farewell tours. I'm a little bored with the outrage too, since it's easy enough ignore the farewell tours.

[Squirrel]

 

I'm a little bored with the farewell tours. I'm a little bored with the outrage too, since it's easy enough ignore the farewell tours.

You know, if you're bored with the topic, you could choose to ignore it instead of respond to it.

[Mike Sixel]

Like most everything about individuals in team sports, I am ignoring these completely. Ignoring glory hogs is the best way to handle them.

[TheLeviathan]

Kobe just confirmed what everybody already knew.

 

Meh.

[Squirrel]

 

Like most everything about individuals in team sports, I am ignoring these completely. Ignoring glory hogs is the best way to handle them.

Yup, pretty much. I think it's a fad that will die. But I wonder ... who the glory hogs are in this? Are the players themselves making a 'big deal' out of this, or the teams and the sport? A player's retirement getting played up by a marketing department ... not sure that's on the player. But of course, the player could say to management ... 'This is my last season, but don't announce it.'

[Mike Sixel]

 

Yup, pretty much. I think it's a fad that will die. But I wonder ... who the glory hogs are in this? Are the players themselves making a 'big deal' out of this, or the teams and the sport? A player's retirement getting played up by a marketing department ... not sure that's on the player. But of course, the player could say to management ... 'This is my last season, but don't announce it.'

 

all of them. I pretty much only watch the games, and nothing else on the tv or radio about sports anymore.

[Craig Arko]

I wonder how much of this is driven by the team and league PR departments.

 

For myself, I don't care much one way or the other. I figure none of them will be attending my retirement shebang.

[T.C.]

I guess I'm in the minority on this one but I didn't mind it for a guy like Jeter. I was at both his farewell regular season game at target field when they gave him (the last?) 2nd base from the Metrodome and at the All-Star Game when he waved goodbye. Was it a little much? Maybe. But he's a legend of the game. Ortiz however doesn't deserve anything like that imo.

[biggentleben]

But is it anything the player does? A long-standing superstar announces before his last season that he'll be done. It can be viewed as incredibly unselfish if anything because it allows his team to prepare for life after rather than just leaving them high and dry. Many players didn't want it. Heck, Mariano spent his meeting the stadium workers and team employees, not VIPs, and I loved that.

[diehardtwinsfan]

It's all ego, and perhaps  way to make a few extra dollars come retirement time.  My problem is that you see these for good players in big markets who were overrated. 

[biggentleben]

 

It's all ego, and perhaps  way to make a few extra dollars come retirement time.  My problem is that you see these for good players in big markets who were overrated. 

 

So you believe Cal Ripken and Tony Gwynn wanted extra dollars and were overrated?

 

These "tours" have been going on for a while, but they get a ton more press now, and we've been tremendously inundated with the last few because they've been Yankees and now Kobe. How much did you really hear about Chipper Jones' farewell tour? He played 125 games in his next-to-last year and hit .275/.344/.470 while playing league average defense at 39 years old, but he just knew he wasn't going to seek another contract after his expired the next season, and he let the Braves know to start seeking a replacement. Outside of maybe his stop in New York against the Mets, I don't recall ESPN featuring any of his stops on his "tour". The Braves did a big thing for him, and he did have a presentation at every park along his final season, but it wasn't a big media deal like the last few have been.

 

Guys like Jeter, Rivera, Chipper, and Kobe - love them or hate them, they're first ballot guys. David Ortiz announcing to his team that he's retiring shouldn't predicate a retirement tour, and I hope it doesn't, to be honest, but within the construct of that team, he's doing the team a significant favor by allowing them to plan their roster construction going forward. If a guy like LaTroy Hawkins announced his retirement before his final season, he really shouldn't be getting a "tour". However, a guy like Jeter, Rivera, and Chipper, I would make the extra effort to go watch them one last time if I knew it was my last chance to do so.

[Craig Arko]

I just received an email notification: "PBS Salutes Downton Abbey ahead of its Last Season."

 

Not just sports figures who get the Big Sendoff.

[biggentleben]

So, here's an honest question. Would you make a special effort to attend a game in 2017 if Alex Rodriguez made it known before the season that he would not seek another contract after that season's deal ran out? His 2015 garnered a lot of good will for him in the game, but I'm just curious where he fell in the "retirement tour" spectrum.

[Vanimal46]

Me personally, no I would not make an effort to attend a game during A Rod's last season.

 

Ken Griffey Jr. may be the last athlete that my family made an effort to see because he was my all-time favorite player growing up.

 

Until I have kids one day that idolize a player, or if someone leads the Twins to a WS, I don't see myself doing that anytime soon.

[Vanimal46]

Well, the people in MN actually made the effort to see Kobe Bryant play at the Target Center for the last time. Good for the 18k folks in attendance last night.