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Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher A.J. Burnett is having the best season of his career, and now he is retiring after 17 seasons.
The 38 year old Burnett, who has made $144 million in his professional baseball career owns one of the MLB’s lowest ERA’s this season at 2.11. The star is scheduled to pitch in his first All-Star game on Tuesday, July, 14, 2015. Burnett cites his health, wife, and his children as reasons for retiring from the sport.
The full quote reads:
“It’s that time. My wife has done a lot of things. She hasn’t had a summer to herself in a long, long time. My boys are at an age now where I started coaching their basketball team in the winter time and they want me to start coaching others things too. And like I mentioned, the body tells you. I believe I could still pitch for a couple more years but I want to be able to walk away and be active around my kids for couple of years before I start hobbling.”