Say It Ain't So..... It's Offical....

This is worth the repost.....

IRVINE, Calif. -- Ryan Klesko is retiring after 16 seasons in the major leagues, agent Joe Sambito said Friday.
Klesko, an All-Star in 2001 with San Diego, hit .260 last season with six homers and 44 RBIs in 362 at-bats for the San Francisco Giants. He played in only six games the previous year for the Padres because of shoulder surgery. The 36-year-old became a free agent following the World Series and didn't sign.
For his career, Klesko batted .279 with 278 homers and 987 RBIs. His best season was 2001, when he hit .286 with 30 homers and 113 RBIs.
He spent seven seasons with San Diego after playing his first eight years in the big leagues with the Atlanta Braves.
The news of Klesko's retirement comes after a February report in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in which Klesko told his former Braves' teammate Chipper Jones he was opting for retirement. Jones and Klesko played together in Atlanta from 1993-99.

RETIREMENT!!!!

Since I can remember I've been a huge fan of his. I loved the fact that whenever he hit a home run, even the simplest of fly balls would force him to toss his bat aside, lean back, throw his hands up in the air, and then stride along to first base. I'm not sure what this season will be like not having him to root for. It just won't be the same. My junior year of highschool, when the Braves got really, really good my parents let us ditch school for parades and airport reunions. It was awesome. It is very, very sad that this part of my childhood is gone. Is it weird to morn the loss of a child icon? Ok! I know I was all about him in my twenties and thirties,,,, hardly a child. I know alot of people had their idols/crushes...whatever you want to call it. JFK, Elvis, Wayne Newton, Donny Osmond, Dorthy Hammel, Dale Murphy, Michael Jordan, Kirk Cameron, Ricky Schroder, NKOTB, See we all had someone. Well he was mine. I am so thankful that I had a chance to chase him around the ATL for so many years. Thanks for the memories............

After spending the off season looking for employment and not finding a full time gig Ryan Klesko has decided to retire according to former teammate Chipper Jones. Klesko spent most of his 16 year career bouncing back and forth from first base and the outfield to accommodate other players on his teams.

A fifth round pick pick in the 1989 amateur draft Klesko appeared in his first game three years later on September 12, 1992. He failed to collect a hit in his first 14 at-bats and returned to Richmond for the 1993 season. Klesko responded with an outburst of 22 homers and an .881 OPS upon his demotion and again received a September call-up.

Klesko did a hit this time and by the end of the 1994 season had proven he was regular player after hitting 17 homers and a posting a .907 OPS. He was a huge part of the Braves 1995 World Series run after hitting 23 homers and posting a career best 1.004 OPS in the regular season. More importantly Klesko hit 3 home runs in the 1995 World Series against the Cleveland Indians which catapulted the Braves from bridesmaids to brides for the only time in the ’90s.
As an Atlanta Braves fan as a kid Klesko could have done nothing else in his career and I would have loved the guy. How often does your team win a World Series after all?

Klesko played 153 games in 1996 swatting a career best 34 homers and driving in 93. It appeared that overlooked Klesko, along with Chipper Jones, would be driving forces for the Braves for years but in 1997 Klesko dropped to just 24 homers and a .261 average but again topping the .800 OPS threshold. In 1998 he dropped to just 18 homers but posted an .833 OPS.
In Klesko’s last season with the Braves he hit .297/.376/.532 and with his 21 homers appeared to be a part of the teams future until he was traded away with Bret Boone to San Diego for Quilvio Veras, Wally Joyner and Reggie Sanders.

Those in the media gave us the perception that the Braves were getting the better part of the deal but the Brave fans knew that Klesko was a superior player to Sanders and while Bret Boone had not began to take his ‘roids he was still a better bet in the infield then Quilvio Veras. As for Wallyworld, Wally Joyner was nothing more then a bench player at this point in his career.

I’m not sure if Klesko was pressured or not in Atlanta but he seemed relaxed upon his arrivial in San Diego. Ryan would move to first base full time once in San Diego.
He immediately made the Braves regret his trade as Reggie Sanders was struggling to hit over .200 while Klesko mashed 26 homers, drove in 92 RBI and hit .283 with a .909 OPS.
The following season of 2001 marked his only All-Star appearance, a strike out and a RBI sac fly. Klesko would finish the 2001 season with 30 homers and topped 100 RBI for the only time in his career at 113.

The 2002 season was much of the same for Klesko as he topped .300 for the second time in his career and remained the force within the Padres lineup. He set a career best with 162 hits.
The Padres moved Klesko back to left field before the 2003 season, in order to get youngster Sean Burroughs in the lineup at third base and Phil Nevin at first. This was Bruce Bochey’s idea for injecting more offense into the lineup. While Nevin was a start at third the defensive ability of Burroughs was supposed to be something amazing thus the move across the diamond. Burroughs had been a highly thought of first round pick in 1998 but ultimately turned out to be a slap hitter who was known more for his glove then his stick.
Injuries then began to hammer Klesko. His number took a hit as he would hit just 21, 9, 18 homers over the next three seasons. In 2006 he played in just six games for the Padres, his last with the club.

His final season in the big leagues was spent in San Fransisco. Bruce Bochey had recently taken the Giants job over a contract extension in San Diego. Klesko hit just six homers in 116 games for the Giants. It was reported that the Boston Red Sox had interest in Klesko this winter but a deal never got worked out.

Ryan Klesko was better then we give him credit for. A career .279 hitter he smacked 278 homers and the man knew how to draw a walk posting a .370 OBP for his career. His .500 SLG speaks well about his ability to move runners around the bases as well.

The player most comparable to Klesko oddly is former teammate David Justice. Looking at their stats it’s easy to see that Justice had a few more homers but who would have known that Justice finished his career with an almost identical .279/.378/.500 line? Some would point out Klesko playing two more seasons but when you factor in a September call up in 1992 and four at-bats in 2006 it’s easy to see that these two are almost identical. Klesko played about 100 more games over the course of his career but Justice actually had 14 more at-bats.
Klesko ranks 90th All-Time in Slugging Percentage which is pretty impressive to me. While I know the numbers change I’m surprised at how many current players he ranks ahead of.
Perhaps the only disenchanting thing with Klesko is those injury riddled years from 2003-2006. Klesko missed over two years of big league time. _ Quoted from Behind the Dugout.