Kerry Wood hangs 'em up

Kerry Wood retired today. He reached that point where you simply don't have it anymore.

It's hard to admit that to yourself. I was a badass softball player way back once upon a time. I could hit and I could run and I could pitch. I played hard, played to win and I won a lot more than I lost. Then you get older, and the guys in the A leagues keep getting younger and faster and better. And one day you simply realize you aren't good enough anymore. Or maybe a more accurate way to put it is that you finally admit to yourself that you had been deluding yourself that you were still good enough. So finally I just gave up fighting it, called my manager and told him that while I appreciated his putting in me in the lineup because we were friends, I knew he was just doing me a courtesy and there wasn't any point any more. And when I saw that he was relieved, that's when I knew I had been kidding myself for awhile, I wasn't an A league player anymore and hadn't been for awhile.

It's hard to admit to yourself that your skills have faded, that you aren't what you used to be. It's hard to admit you've gotten to old to play with the kids anymore. You want to still be the guy that pitched your team thru the playoffs to a championship winning all four games while your team only scored a total of ten runs. You want to be the guy who nearly threw a perfect game in 16-inch softball. You always want to be that guy. You don't want to be old. But then one day you are.

And it's coming again. I'm getting older, I might not be good enough for B league anymore pretty soon. At least I see it this time. And when that day happens, that's it. I'm not going to be hanging around in co-rec games. I was a player, and soon I won't be. And when that happens, I'll sit back in the cool of the evening and take it all in. Everything I've done in my favorite sport I've ever played in, it's in there and I'll remember it. But Father Time always wins.