Posada to Retire


Tyler Kepner looks back on Jorge Posada.

Posada, I knew, would be forthright about his condition. When I had started on the Yankees beat, I had been told that Posada was one of the few players I could count on for unvarnished honesty. By his locker that day, he fought back tears and acknowledged the truth.

“It’s the biggest disappointment of my career,” Posada said. But he maintained, with customary defiance, that he would not change positions. “I’m not playing first base,” he said. “I’m a catcher.”

As it turned out, Posada caught fewer than a third of the Yankees’ games over the last four seasons of a career that is now at an end. We learned over the weekend that Posada plans to retire at 40, making him a career Yankee like a predecessor and idol, Thurman Munson.

Munson his hero? That figures. Whatever one can say about Jorge, he played with passion. My lasting memory of Posada will be the time Pedro Martinez pointed to his own head while scowling at him, the clear message being, "I'll throw at your head." Posada refused to be intimidated and just yelled back. Later, asked about the possibility of Pedro going to the Yanks, Posada said no problem, they were fine. I believed it.

I'm tempted to say something like, "If they all played with such heart ... blah blah," but in reality you probably need a few guys who are a bit more relaxed than Posada. But he was great to watch, and even better to hate.