So much for that speculation about a return.
Late this morning, former Brewers All-Star Ryan Braun officially announced his retirement from baseball. His announcement was posted on the Brewers' social media accounts.
Today, more than 14 years after I first took the field as a Milwaukee Brewer, I’ve decided to retire. While it’s impossible to summarize my emotions, what I feel most is one, simple thing – gratitude.
I just wanted to take a moment to say ‘thank you’.
– Ryan Braun pic.twitter.com/pQxuW9qk1z — Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) September 14, 2021
Braun was an unsigned free agent this past season, and while there were rumors of the former MVP coming back to Milwaukee – especially during the team's early offensive struggles, particularly at first base – today officially closes the book on a 2021 return and his career in total.
And what a career it was. Braun ends his 14-season run – exclusively with the Milwaukee Brewers – as the team's leader in home runs as well as second in the franchise's history in RBIs. In fact, he's in the top five in almost all of the Brewers' offensive statistical categories. He was named to six All-Star teams over his career, the National League Rookie of the Year in 2007, and the NL MVP in 2011. But perhaps most important of all, he was a part of a group of young Brewers that turned this once-scuffling franchise into a perennial postseason contender, making the playoffs five times over his tenure with the team (including two NLCS visits) and bringing a new attitude and excitement to Milwaukee's baseball club that lives on.
A ceremony in honor of Braun's career will take place on the field on Sunday, Sept. 26 before the afternoon game against the New York Mets – the team's final regular season home game of the year.
Before then, however, enjoy this stroll through some of his greatest moments:
As much as it is a gigantic cliché to say that one has always had a passion for film, Matt Mueller has always had a passion for film. Whether it was bringing in the latest movie reviews for his first grade show-and-tell or writing film reviews for the St. Norbert College Times as a high school student, Matt is way too obsessed with movies for his own good.
When he's not writing about the latest blockbuster or talking much too glowingly about "Piranha 3D," Matt can probably be found watching literally any sport (minus cricket) or working at - get this - a local movie theater. Or watching a movie. Yeah, he's probably watching a movie.
