New York Yankees’ Andy Pettitte to Retire

The New York Yankees’ Andy Pettitte has announced his retirement.  The 41-year-old lefthander has said that he will be retiring at the end of the season.  Pettitte has the third most Yankees’ wins after Whitey Ford and Red Ruffing.  Along with Pettitte’s other achievements, he is also the leader of postseason victories with 19 victories in the major leagues.

Although Pettitte has only recently announced his retirement officially, it did not come as a surprise to most of those in the organization.  Pettitte had been discussing his retirement plans for the end of the 2013 season before the official announcement was made.

In his retirement announcement, Pettitte said:  “Coming into the season, I knew this was probably going to be it, and there was nothing that went on during the season that was changing my mind.”

Other key players that have recently retired are Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera.  Posada retired at the end of the 2011 season, and Rivera announced his retirement in March. Rivera plans to retire at the end of this season too.

These three players, along with Derek Jeter, are known as the club’s Core Four.  These four players were all in the game, helping to take the Yankees to four title wins between 1996 until 2000.

This is not the first time that Pettitte has announced his retirement, although this time, he said that he will not be coming back to the game. At the end of the season in 2010, he made a similar announcement to the retirement announcement he has just made.  After his previous retirement, he skipped the 2011 season, and in 2012, he signed a minor-league deal, but he returned to the major leagues for 2013 with a $12 million contract.

Pettitte says that he wants to spend more time with his wife and four children.  “The family obviously is a big part of this decision.  I’m ready to be home again.  But the biggest thing is I’m just done.  Mentally and physically, I’m just done.”