Eric Thames, a slugger who revitalized his MLB career after a stint as one of the best sluggers in Korea’s KBO League, is hanging up his spikes.
Thames took to Instagram on Wednesday that he’s retiring from baseball. As part of his message, the well-traveled slugger said “I can’t thank the fans enough from the USA, Canada, Venezuela, South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan for supporting me all these years through the ups and downs. I’ll also add, thank you for supporting my plethora of facial hair styles lol from my Afro and sideburns to my Viking beard with beads. I did my best to honor my family name and entertain you all.”
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Thames broke into Major League Baseball in 2011 with the Toronto Blue Jays. The following year, he was traded to the Seattle Mariners. Thames then spent the 2013 season in the Minor Leagues, playing for the Mariners organization as well as the Baltimore Orioles and Houston Astros. The following year, he went to Korea. There, his game took off.
While with the KBO’s NC Dinos from 2014-2016, Thames hit 124 home runs while producing a .349/.451/.721 slash line. In 2016, he not only hit .381/.498/.790 with 47 home runs, but also added 40 steals. According to Yoo Jee-ho of the Yonhap News Agency, that was the first 40-40 season in KBO history. Thames was a two-time KBO All-Star, won a Gold Glove in both 2015 and 2016 and won the KBO MVP in 2015.
Thames returned to the United States in 2017 and made the most of his opportunity, hitting 31 home runs with the Milwaukee Brewers. He stayed in Milwaukee through the 2019 season and played with the Washington Nationals in 2020. The following year, he went to Japan, playing in the Nippon Professional Baseball for the Yomiuri Giants. In 2022, he signed a Minor League deal with the Oakland Athletics, but was released early in the season without ever making it the majors.
[Eric Thames on Instagram, Yonhap News Agency]
