Charlie Blackmon announced Monday that he will retire at the end of this season, his 14th in the majors.
The 38-year-old Colorado Rockies outfielder is expected to play his final games this weekend against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Coors Field.
“I have been blessed to call the city of Denver and the Colorado Rockies my baseball home for the entirety of my career,” Blackmon wrote in part in a social media post. “I am grateful for the support of this organization, my teammates and most of all Rockies fans. It is with a thankful heart and a career’s worth of memories that I choose a new path.”
“It has been an absolute privilege watching Charlie’s career from start to finish here at Coors Field,” Rockies owner, chairman and CEO Dick Monfort said in a news release. “Charlie’s passion and dedication to the game of baseball, this organization and our great fans was on display every single day, and I can’t thank him enough for pouring his heart into every game and every at-bat over the course of his 14 years here.
“Charlie is a Rockie to his core, and although his playing days are over, he will continue to be a part of this team in a multitude of ways going forward.
Blackmon is a four-time All Star who has won two Silver Slugger Awards (2016, 2017). He finished fifth in the National League MVP Award voting in 2017, when he batted an NL-best .331 and led the majors in hits (213), runs (137), triples (14) and total bases (387).
For his career, Blackmon has hit .292 with 1,797 hits, 991 runs, 333 doubles, 226 home runs, 797 RBIs and 148 steals in his 1,618 MLB games, all with the Rockies.
After he was selected by the Marlins (28th round in 2004) and Red Sox (20th round in 2005) and not signing, the Rockies nabbed him in the second round of the 2008 MLB Draft out of Georgia Tech. The Georgia native moved up the ladder quickly and was patrolling the Coors Field outfield in 2011 at the age of 24.
The Rockies will honor him before his final game Sunday afternoon vs. the Dodgers.
–Field Level Media
