Why I Quit Major League Baseball

Good article.

Each player ultimately has to decide for himself when it is time to walk away from the game, no regrets.  For most it's when your job becomes too frustrating or you just don't enjoy going to the office everyday (in this case the ball field).

Thanks for the link.  I really enjoyed reading that article.

There comes a time that even the highest paying job is worthless to a person who aims to be happy than wealthy. He really writes better than playing ball. I was moved by the article. Thanks for sharing.

I agree.
Once you get to understand how the business of baseball works, perceptions change.

It's not an easy business to be involved in, people don't get that.

Thanks for sharing.

I learned about the business side of baseball when I was twenty. A teammate a year ahead of me was a late round pick. He went to short season, hit .337 and led his team in stolen bases. The last weekend of the season he broke his ankle. As soon as he was medically cleared he was released. He has already cost the organization more than they had invested.

I enjoyed reading it as well.  I had a former player do much the same.  He said that the game he loved was no longer what he loved.  The trades and the expectations are, at times, overwhelming.  He had just been traded and could not take it anymore. 

"When you lose yourself in the game, as you must, it’s all too easy to lose your sense of home. It didn’t take long for me to see how it happens, as I became friends with players and heard about the relationships and marriages that broke up, the relatives and close friends who faded from view, the parents or grandparents whose funerals were missed because of an expected call up to the majors. Sometimes I’d stay awake through the night, almost laughing to myself, mentally weighing the small fraction of success against the overshadowing personal and professional failure that comes with being a ballplayer".

Truer words have never been spoken...My wife and I have talked about this quite a bit , I guess I always hoped if he somehow made it to the show it would make all the personal sacrifices worthwhile.  Sometimes I think its harder on the families because the player doesn't always realize what they are missing. 

While it's hard for me to fathom anyone walking away from the game when they had just "made it", I certainly respect the authors decision. However... I wonder 10-20 years from now how he will feel about his decision? 

I'm not sure what to make of the article.  It was just posted yesterday, but Cardenas apparently hung up his spikes after LAST year (2012).  He had a fair amount of minor league success but struggled in limited MLB at bats last year.  At the end of last year, he was a 25-year-old guy with players ahead of him.  He was sent back to the minors in late October a year ago, then became a free agent. 

I guess what I'm saying is, some of his article just doesn't ring true.  It looks like the reality is that he left the Cubs in frustration, no one picked him up, so now he's retired.  I don't know how much of this was really his decision, as opposed to him accepting that he had reached the end of the line, as we all do eventually (albeit with different amounts of success before hand).  I am sure that realization came with a rush of emotions.

If he was the kind of guy for whom Stanford and Florida were options coming out of high school, then he must be pretty darned smart.  I hope he takes that first round bonus money he got and puts it to good use.  Plenty of young adults don't find their passion until they are much older than he is.  The reality is, between the bonus and his MLB money in 2012, he's earned a ton already.  More than many do in their entire lifetimes.  Godspeed to him, he has a lot of life ahead and, thanks to his baseball talents, a pretty decent head start on his peers.

He very well could have been dropped from the 40 and not picked up, then you basically have to start all over again.

It is unusual to not get picked up, most guys dropped from the 40 who played some ML get picked up again. Unless he had an injury issue.

Or maybe he just decided like so many others do, that his passion and priorities changed.

He was on the 40 man roster with big league time,I sure he would have offers to minor league contract with decent money.  But he's 25 his priorties have changed the "game " has changed. Unless your one of the 1 percent that get the big contract, your going to be knocking around baseball sent up and down moving from team to team for another 5 yrs.  then what?

 He is leaving on his terms ready to start the next phase of his life while he is still young.