Friday, November 21, 2008
Suprising Retirements
Mike Mussina this week became the first major league pitcher to retire following a 20-win season since Sandy Koufax.
That got me thinking about a few other retirements that surprised me in sports or entertainment.
Barry Sanders. For a couple years after he quit just shy of the NFL's career rushing record, I refused to believe he wasn't coming back. I figured he just wanted to get out of playing for the Lions.
Jerry Seinfeld. OK, he didn't exactly retire. But he pulled the plug on one of the greatest TV shows ever, following a season that produced some of the funniest episodes in its history.
Bill Berry, drummer, R.E.M. It's not noteworthy for someone to leave a band. But it's kind of noteworthy for them to leave on great terms with the band, to live in obscurity as a hay farmer, as Berry did in 1997. He did have a brain aneurisym a few years before that, but that didn't seem to be a major factor.
Others?
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That got me thinking about a few other retirements that surprised me in sports or entertainment.
Barry Sanders. For a couple years after he quit just shy of the NFL's career rushing record, I refused to believe he wasn't coming back. I figured he just wanted to get out of playing for the Lions.
Jerry Seinfeld. OK, he didn't exactly retire. But he pulled the plug on one of the greatest TV shows ever, following a season that produced some of the funniest episodes in its history.
Bill Berry, drummer, R.E.M. It's not noteworthy for someone to leave a band. But it's kind of noteworthy for them to leave on great terms with the band, to live in obscurity as a hay farmer, as Berry did in 1997. He did have a brain aneurisym a few years before that, but that didn't seem to be a major factor.
Others?
0 comments. Leave one!
