Just four months shy of his 50th birthday, 23-year major league veteran and unbelievable physical specimen Julio Franco announced his retirement from baseball today. From his villa in Mexico, Franco made his retirement official just two days shy of Cinco de Mayo, while sipping on a Tecate and chomping on a hearty size platter of nachos grande. "It was the hardest decision in my life," Franco said in an interview published today by the Mexican Sports Daily Record. "I always said I would be the first one to know the exact moment. I think the numbers speak for themselves, the production speaks and this is the right moment, although I really don't know how to speak. I understand that my time has passed and the great men and athletes know when to say enough."
Franco hit his last major league home run against Randy Johnson on May 4, 2007. At 48, he became the oldest player to homer in the majors. The Dominican retired with a .298 average, 2,586 hits and 173 home runs in 23 seasons in the majors with eight teams - these are the so-called numbers and production that 'speak.' Franco plans to to move to Florida to live in a retirement community called Del Boca Vista, Phase II. He looks forward to writing up-side-down in bed using an astronaut pen loaned by his neighbor, Jack Klompus.
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