I was sorry to hear Mike Matheny is officially retiring from baseball after his doctors refused to clear him for play in the upcoming 2007 season. Matheny, a 13 year major league veteran catcher, will always be one of my favorite players for the way he handled pitchers and because the man could block a curve ball in the dirt as good as anyone in the history of the game. Matheny was also one of my girlfriend’s favorites because he was cute…not that I didn’t think he was cute, the difference was I also valued his time when he wore his mask, and she just waited for his face to appear on the Jumbotron again.

This isn’t meant to sound like a eulogy, but its always sad to see one of the better players and better guys in the game get forced into retirement early. The good news is, I give it about 2 years before we see Matheny coaching minor leaguers, hopefully he’ll be doing it back in a Cardinals uniform.

In related news, Barry Bonds, Matheny’s teammate on the Giants, continues to whine about how many douchebag lackeys the Giants will pay for in his up coming 18+ million dollar contract.

Try to enjoy retirement Mike! St. Louis is really nice in the summer when you don’t have to travel.