Jorge Posada retires

You can read details about Posada's career as a New York Yankee and contributions to pro baseball here, but even though I was never a huge Posada fan, his retirement announcement makes me feel nostalgic. With him hanging up his cleats, half the Core Four is now gone. That makes me feel old, when I think that I was in college watching them lead the Yanks to four World Series wins between 1996-2000. It makes me miss those years when it was just a given that the Yankees were that good, that the World Series was a foregone conclusion. When I was away at college, Posada was part of a team that when I watched them play, I felt close to my family and friends at home. He was part of the continuity between that team and the championship team of 2009, when some of that magic returned.

Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera are still here (Andy Pettitte was the first to retire) but for how much longer? These are the players I have an emotional attachment to - will I still love this team when all the Core Four are gone? But that's the way life goes - it's time to let some other players step into those shoes. It's time to give the new guard a chance to show that somewhere down the road, they might be superstars, they might be able to bring the magic. Part of my frustration with the Yankees is the insistence on keeping and/or acquiring expensive, old, fading superstars, and so I commend Posada for bowing out gracefully and graciously. We have promising catchers on the team that deserve the chance to prove themselves. So a moment like this makes me sad for the past, but at the same time, it makes me hopeful for the future.