Nearly 19,000 men have played baseball in the major leagues. I've decided that their careers all had one thing in common: Not one of them had a final season as spectacular as the grand finale currently being crafted by a man named David Americo (Arias) Ortiz.
Willie Mays hit .211 the year he said goodbye. Hank Aaron batted .229. Harmon Killebrew hit .199. Goose Gossage had a 4.18 ERA. Robin Roberts went 5-8, 4.82. John Smoltz and Phil Niekro both had ERAs north of 6.00. And that's normal.