BBTF's Newsblog Discussion :: Former all-star Ryan Klesko retires after 16 seasons in major leagues

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Friday, April 18, 2008

Former all-star Ryan Klesko retires after 16 seasons in major leagues

Come down to Bootworld and tell them I...packed it in.

Ryan Klesko is retiring after 16 seasons in the major leagues, agent Joe Sambito said Friday.

Klesko, an all-star in 2001 with San Diego, hit .260 last season with six homers and 44 RBIs in 362 at-bats for the San Francisco Giants. He played in only six games the previous year for the Padres because of shoulder surgery. The 36-year-old became a free agent following the World Series and didn’t sign.

Klesko batted .279 with 278 homers and 987 RBIs. His best season was 2001, when he hit .286 with 30 homers and 113 RBIs.

He spent seven seasons with San Diego after playing his first eight years in the big leagues with the Atlanta Braves.

Repoz Posted: April 18, 2008 at 10:46 PM | 18 comment(s)
Related News: General, Atlanta, San Diego, San Francisco

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1. Cabbage Posted: April 18, 2008 at 11:09 PM (#2750892)

Lets see if this works:

1992 21 ATL NL  13   14    0    0   0  0   0    1   0  0   0   5  .000  .067  .000  -80    0   0   0   0   1   0
 1993 22 ATL NL  22   17    3    6   1  0   2    5   0  0   3   4  .353  .450  .765  218   13   0   0   1   0   0
 1994 23 ATL NL  92  245   42   68  13  3  17   47   1  0  26  48  .278  .344  .563  130  138   0   4   3   1   8
 1995 24 ATL NL 107  329   48  102  25  2  23   70   5  4  47  72  .310  .396  .608  158  200   0   3  10   2   8
 1996 25 ATL NL 153  528   90  149  21  4  34   93   6  3  68 129  .282  .364  .530  127  280   0   4  10   2  10
 1997 26 ATL NL 143  467   67  122  23  6  24   84   4  4  48 130  .261  .334  .490  111  229   1   2   5   4  12
 1998 27 ATL NL 129  427   69  117  29  1  18   70   5  3  56  66  .274  .359  .473  117  202   0   4   5   3   9
 1999 28 ATL NL 133  404   55  120  28  2  21   80   5  2  53  69  .297  .376  .532  127  215   0   7   8   2   6
 2000 29 SDP NL 145  494   88  140  33  2  26   92  23  7  91  81  .283  .393  .516  136  255   0   4   9   1  10
 2001 30 SDP NL 146  538  105  154  34  6  30  113  23  4  88  89  .286  .384  .539  145  290   0   9   7   3  16
 2002 31 SDP NL 146  540   90  162  39  1  29   95   6  2  76  86  .300  .388  .537  152  290   1   4  11   4   7
 2003 32 SDP NL 121  397   47  100  18  0  21   67   2  5  65  83  .252  .354  .456  118  181   0   9   5   3  11
 2004 33 SDP NL 127  402   58  117  32  2   9   66   3  2  73  67  .291  .399  .448  129  180   1   3   6   1   8
 2005 34 SDP NL 137  443   61  110  19  1  18   58   3  4  75  80  .248  .358  .418  110  185   0   1   2   1   6
 2006 35 SDP NL   6    4    0    3   1  0   0    2   0  0   2   0  .750  .833 1.000  388    4   0   0   0   0   0
 2007 36 SFG NL 116  362   51   94  27  3   6   44   5  1  46  68  .260  .344  .401   92  145   1   1   2   1  14

sweet. that worked. that's courtesy of BBref

2. Guts Posted: April 18, 2008 at 11:24 PM (#2750904)

It looks like he had a better year in 2002. Not much difference. A very solid career. He was always a big supporter of the Boy Scouts.

3. jwb Posted: April 18, 2008 at 11:30 PM (#2750914)

Didn't this happen two months ago?

4. Kiko Sakata Posted: April 18, 2008 at 11:43 PM (#2750927)

So, as of now, the Hall-of-Fame ballot five years from now will include first-year appearances by Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Craig Biggio, Mike Piazza, Sammy Sosa, and Ryan Klesko. Yeah, I'm pretty sure he'll be coming in 6th from that group and falling off the ballot after his first year. Kidding aside, though, he certainly had a nice respectable major-league career.

5. baudib Posted: April 18, 2008 at 11:55 PM (#2750936)

Bill James picked Klesko and Manny as potential Hall of Famers from the 1994 rookie class. Manny was a year younger but their performances were similar. Klesko certainly did appear to be headed for a McCovey-type prime after hitting .310/.396/.610 as a 24-year-old in 95, but he never really learned to cope with lefthanders.

6. Marty Winn Posted: April 19, 2008 at 12:37 AM (#2750959)

I loved Ryan Klesko when he first came up with the Braves. I'll always remember him playing catch during batting practice from the outfield with people in the upper deck. He would warn the people that thy have got to throw it back and then he would chuck it up there. Back and forth. There was enough peer pressure that no fan would ever keep the ball. It was really cool. Seems like a really good guy.

7. Rich Posted: April 19, 2008 at 01:38 AM (#2750982)

Early in his career, I would have liked to have seen Klesko play his home games at Yankee Stadium.

8. Gambling Rent Czar Posted: April 19, 2008 at 07:51 AM (#2751010)

I wouldn't mind seeing Ryno under the San Diego fold, as an instructor, coach, whatever.

Best of luck to you Ryno, what ever it is you choose to do.

9. Craig Calcaterra Posted: April 19, 2008 at 08:15 AM (#2751013)

For years, many Braves fans suspected that his problems with lefties didn't develop until after Bobby Cox had decided that had a problem with lefties and began to play him against them less and less. This isn't borne out by the splits, though. He really struggled with them out of the gate and his ABs against them declined after that.

10. phatj Posted: April 19, 2008 at 08:58 AM (#2751019)

I'll always remember the weird one squinty eye in the picture of him they showed on the Jumbotron at CBP when the Padres came to Philly. We'll miss you, Dread Pirate Klesko.

11. Better Schafer than Sorry Posted: April 19, 2008 at 09:36 AM (#2751025)

The end of Ryno's Mighty Cuts

12. Harold Reynolds: An Erotic Life (AG#1F) Posted: April 19, 2008 at 01:46 PM (#2751124)

I wouldn't mind seeing Ryno under the San Diego fold, as an instructor, coach, whatever.

Best of luck to you Ryno, what ever it is you choose to do.

Didn't he want to go into law enforcement? I thought he actually went on a few patrols as an honorary member of the force in San Diego.

13. BourbonSamurai Posted: April 19, 2008 at 06:51 PM (#2751378)

A first ballot terrible facial hair hall of famer.

14. A Random 8-Year-Old Eskimo Posted: April 19, 2008 at 09:08 PM (#2751524)

Didn't he want to go into law enforcement? I thought he actually went on a few patrols as an honorary member of the force in San Diego.

I think that's the story. A year or two after he came up with Atlanta Sports Illustrated had an article about him spending a day (or something) training and riding around the SWAT team in Atlanta. It was apparently something he had always wanted to do and I don't remember much else about the article, except Klesko clearly enjoyed himself.

15. Marty Winn Posted: April 19, 2008 at 09:24 PM (#2751544)

Shaq wants to do this too.

16. Aspiring One-Armed Economist (6 - 4 - 3) Posted: April 19, 2008 at 09:32 PM (#2751561)

It always seemed like he was on the brink of a truly monster year (ie, 40+ HR season).

His career can be summed up with a single statistical split: 920 OPS versus RHP, 700 OPS versus LHP.

It would have been interesting to have seen if he could have developed had he gotten a chance to spend his 20s playing 1B or DH full-time. I remember thinking in the mid-1990s that the Braves were stunting his development as a hitter by miscasting him as a corner outfielder.

17. Philippe Posted: April 20, 2008 at 06:09 AM (#2751689)

Players like Klesko are the reason the LOOGY was invented.

It was a surprising comeback last year. I never thought he'd be a regular player again after missing almost all of 2006, and after having seen his power numbers drop for four straight years before that. Mind you, if it had been another team than the Giants, they would not have stuck someone with a .401 SLG as their regular at 1st base.

18. Sam Hutcheson Posted: April 20, 2008 at 09:20 AM (#2751699)

Hall of Fames and perfect players with no holes in their games notwithstanding, Ryan Klesko is the reason I watch baseball. Not _the_ reason, but the embodiment of the reason. No, he won't be competing with Bonds or Piazza or whomever on that 2012 HOF ballot, but he was more fun to watch play baseball than any other hitter I can recall. Only Greg Maddux tops him on the list of faves, and that's not really fair to mortals. Any time I recall fondly the mid- to late-90s Atlanta Braves, I'll recall Ryan Klesko in full extension after a HR, the bat flipping off into the air behind his head. F*ckin beautiful.

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Friday, April 18, 2008

Former all-star Ryan Klesko retires after 16 seasons in major leagues

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