ending career on a high note
with Pujols on a tear, I was thinking about players who retired on a personal high note. I dont mean someone like Payton Manning who was part of a championship team his last season, but was washed. I mean someone who excelled on a personal level and retired seemingly with some left in the tank.
the obvious ones i can think of are of course:
Barry Sanders
Sandy Koufax
Rocky Marciano
Jim Brown
there are some others though that had great last seasons:
David Ortiz
Norm Van Brocklin retired as MVP
I remember of Will Clark catching fire in his last season and retiring. i think it was St Louis in the early 00s
who else retired while playing great?
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
Comments
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Don Mattingly was done but had a tremendous last few weeks and postseason in 1995.
Roger Staubach led the league in passing his final season.Collecting anything and everything relating to Roger Staubach1 -
Barry Bonds. Led the league in On Base Percentage his last year (and most other years).
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Ortiz.
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John Elway and Peyton Manning both won rings to close out their careers. Manning wasn't nearly in his prime, but he still got one more ring before going out. Elway beat my Packers then repeated against the Falcons.
Michael Phelps absolutely dominated his last Olympics with five golds and a silver. There's many more but I should probably get back to work. Ha!2 -
41 year old Ted Williams hit .316 with 29 HR's in his final season.
And he hit a HR in his final at bat. Not a bad ending.
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+1 for Megatron retiring early with years left if he wanted.
Ken Dryden is a perfect example of someone retiring when they were still in discussion for the best player at their position at that time, when they could have played for another decade.
Despite being relatively old, Nicklas Lidstrom could have been a very effective player for at least a few more years. His play may have not been up to his personal standard of being the top player in his position at the time, but even in his 40's, he'd still have been better than most of the other D guys in the show. Similar situation for Datsyuk too (and I'm not really counting playing in the KHL after NHL for him).
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Calvin Johnson
Ray Bourque
Steffi Graff
Pete Sampras0 -
Fran Tarkenton led the league in passing yards his final season.
2013,14 and 15 Certificate Award Winner Harmon Killebrew Master Set and Master Topps Set0 -
Tiki Barber had one of the best ever final seasons. 1662 yards rushing, 5.2 y/carry, 2127 yards from scrimmage which is one of the highest all-time.
Robert Smith. In his last season, he had 1521 yards rushing with a 5.2 y/carry.
Andrew Luck. 4600 yards passing and 39 touchdown passes.
Randy Gradishar. All Pro, Pro Bowl, received votes for DPOY.
Otto Graham. MVP and All Pro
Sterling Sharpe. 94 receptions 1119 yards receiving 18 tds. Pro Bowl
Ken Riley. 8 picks and first team all pro
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Wilt Chamberlain. 13 ppg 19 rpg 4.5apg 72.7% field goal % all star
Bob Petit. 22.5ppg 12.4rpg all star
Larry Bird. 20ppg 10rpg 7apg all star
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It was 1968, and his team stunk, so nobody noticed, but Mickey Mantle was 8th in OPS+ (143) and 4th in WPA his last season.
This is for you @thisistheshow - Jim Rice was actually a pretty good player.0 -
HOFer Mike Mussina...the only year he won 20 games, was his last year.
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I was gonna say Ted Williams and Elway.
Yaz Master Set
#1 Gino Cappelletti master set
#1 John Hannah master set
Also collecting Andre Tippett, Patriots Greats' RCs, Dwight Evans, 1964 Venezuelan Topps0 -
Babe Ruth was through when he reached the Braves, but he did hit three home runs against the Pirates five days before he retired.
I suppose Sandy Koufax is just too obvious. . .
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One of my favorite players - Kirby Puckett batted .314 in his final season. Lifetime batting avg of .318.
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@oilers99 said:
One of my favorite players - Kirby Puckett batted .314 in his final season. Lifetime batting avg of .318.Just before Kirby's eyesight failed, he was supposedly crushing the ball like never before.
Too short of a career and much too short of a life.
2013,14 and 15 Certificate Award Winner Harmon Killebrew Master Set and Master Topps Set1 -
@johfr said:
Barry Bonds. Led the league in On Base Percentage his last year (and most other years).Definitely a great season but not a “personal high note”. Didn’t retire on his own terms. Giants didn’t want him back in 2008 and everyone (especially his agent) thought he was going to DH in the AL. He definitely wanted 3000 hits, or to catch Rickey in runs scored, or Hank in total bases. Just needed one more season that no one would give him. He didn’t officially retire for two more years.
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David Ortiz. In his age 40 final season he had a.315 BA, 38 HR's, 127 RBI's, 1.021 OPS & led the league with 48 doubles. Finished 6th in MVP voting.
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@Kid4hof03 said:
Roger Staubach led the league in passing his final season.Yes he did, but he didn't go out on a high note. His last game against the Rams in the Playoffs was pretty bad. 42% completion, 124 yds. He had a similar bad performance that same year against the Steelers.
2025 SEC bowl record 4-10
SEC bowl record vs BIG TEN last two years 2-8
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@ArtVandelay said:
Tiki Barber had one of the best ever final seasons. 1662 yards rushing, 5.2 y/carry, 2127 yards from scrimmage which is one of the highest all-time.Robert Smith. In his last season, he had 1521 yards rushing with a 5.2 y/carry.
Andrew Luck. 4600 yards passing and 39 touchdown passes.
Randy Gradishar. All Pro, Pro Bowl, received votes for DPOY.
Otto Graham. MVP and All Pro
Sterling Sharpe. 94 receptions 1119 yards receiving 18 tds. Pro Bowl
Ken Riley. 8 picks and first team all pro
those are all great calls. I had forgotten about many of those guys.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
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Gordie Howe, twice. He had 52 points in 63 games when he retired in 1971 at age 42. Then he had 41 points playing all 80 games for the Whalers in 1979-80 at age 51.
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Norm Van Brocklin. 1960 with the Eagles had a career high 24 td's. He was the NFL mvp and won the NFL championship.
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@stevebay said:
HOFer Mike Mussina...the only year he won 20 games, was his last year.That was going to be my example, was scrolling to see if anyone else had said it and you beat me. I recalled he had gone out as a 20 game winner and fairly close to 300 Wins. Wish he had it in him to win another 30, but he'd have been 41 under best case scenario, likely 42.
I collect Steve Garvey, Dodgers and signed cards. Collector since 1978.0 -
Otto Graham had to be convinced to return for his last season where he won the MVP and the league championship. He was only 34 and had no serious injuries. He retired at the top and still had plenty of good years left. The Browns were still loaded except for QB after he left so it’s likely they would have kept rolling.
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The fact that no AL team wanted to win and have Bonds at DH shocked me. Always thought It was a de facto suspension.
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@brad31 said:
The fact that no AL team wanted to win and have Bonds at DH shocked me. Always thought It was a de facto suspension.Spot on and a de facto suspension from MLB. He had a chance at 800 home runs. You can't deny his greatness and the PED era is part of baseball history.
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Liberace.
Kiss me once, shame on you.
Kiss me twice.....let's party.0 -
Going way back to the 40's, but Bill Durnan of the Montreal Canadiens comes to mind. Won 6 of 7 Vezina trophies in his 7 year career, with back to back wins before retiring at age 34.
Main collecting focus is Patrick Roy playing days 85/86-02/03, expect 1/1, National/All-Star stamped cards.PC Completion: 2,723/2,987; 91.16% My Patrick Roy PC Website:https://proy33collector.weebly.com
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@ArtVandelay said:
Sterling Sharpe. 94 receptions 1119 yards receiving 18 tds. Pro Bowl
I'm mixed on this one. He had an incredible season but he was forced into retirement by injury. Not sure I'd call that a high note. He should be in the HOF.
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@totallyradd said:
John Elway and Peyton Manning both won rings to close out their careers. Manning wasn't nearly in his prime, but he still got one more ring before going out.Winning his final game was definitely a high note but Manning was more than "[not] nearly in his prime". He was literally the worst QB to ever win a Super Bowl that year. Granted, that's like being the ugliest Miss Universe but still. He was terrible that year. 67 QB rating, 9/17 TD:INT ratio (worst of any QB during a Super Bowl-winning season) with an arm that would embarrass a high school player, bailed out week after week by an incredible defense. 180 yds avg and a TD pass in only one of 3 playoff games.
But they did win the Super Bowl.
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^^^^^ ^ that year the Broncos won in spite of having Manning as their quarterback. he was really bad
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
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Luke Kuechly
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