Once a budding young star on a World Series champion, former All-Star, and World Series MVP Cole Hamels is retiring at the age of 39. The San Diego Padres announced on Friday that the veteran left-hander had retired from Major League Baseball. Hamels had signed a minor league deal with the Padres in hopes of making a comeback, but he ultimately decided to hang up his cleats.
Hamels was one of the better-starting pitchers of his generation, and he will be remembered for his accomplishments on the field with the Philadelphia Phillies and his lethal changeup.
This was Hamels second failed attempt at a comeback. He last pitched with the Atlanta Braves during the COVID-shortened 2020 season and made just one start, pitching 3 ⅓ innings and giving up three earned runs. Hamels signed with the Dodgers in Aug. 2021, but experienced arm pain when throwing a simulated game and was placed on the 60-day injured list. He would miss all of the 2022 season before his latest comeback attempt with the Padres.
Hamels was a key contributor to the Phillies’ 2008 World Series victory over the Tampa Bay Rays. After being named the National League Championship Series MVP, Hamels started Game 1 of the World Series and earned his fourth win of the postseason. He also started Game 5, which was suspended due to rain after the top of the sixth inning tied at 2-2. The Phillies would go on to win Game 5 and the World Series, for that matter.
Hamels’s postseason performance was outstanding. He made five starts in 2008, going 4-0 with a 1.80 ERA. He threw a total of 35 innings and held opponents scoreless in 28 of them. In the seven innings in which he did allow runs, he never allowed more than one.
Hamels played most of his career with the Phillies, breaking in with Philadelphia in 2006. The Phillies traded Hamels in July of 2015 when he was acquired by the Texas Rangers at the MLB Trade Deadline. After nearly three full seasons in Texas, the Rangers then traded him to the Chicago Cubs in July of 2018. In December 2019, he signed a free-agent contract with the Braves. He finished 2023 (and, as it turns out, his MLB career) in the Padres organization.
