Bobby Abreu will officially retire after today. The Phillies legend was the best offensive player the Phillies have had since Mike Schmidt, over all, and was my favorite player while in Philadelphia. As a Phillie, he posted a .928 OPS, hitting 195 homers, driving in 814 runs, scoring 891 runs, hitting 585 extra-base hits, batting .303, and stealing 254 bases, in 9 seasons. Those average out to .928/22/90/99/54/.303/28, respectively. For his career, Bobby had 2,469 hits, 921 XBH's, 288 homers, 1,363 RBI's, 1,453 hits, 400 steals, hit .291, and posted an .870 OPS. Yes, that OPS tops both Konerko and Jeter, who are retiring today and are considered strong Hall-of-Fame candidates. In my opinion, Bobby's numbers speak for themselves, and he should get a long look for the Hall.
Either way though- Bobby was one of my favorite players, and he had a great career. A lot of Philadelphia fans never warmed up to him because he didn't run into the wall like Aaron Rowand, but that is frankly stupid talk. This is why he never went on the DL, and posted fantastic numbers for us, numbers that are basically unrivaled by any Phillie in the post-Schmidt era. His 1,475 career walks, including 947 in Philadelphia, were a product of an unmatched eye. It's a shame that not all the fans in Philadelphia at the time of his career appreciated him, but at least some did. I think time has made many miss him more. I think many wondered why he didn't make the 2014 team while they watched John Mayberry Jr. and Tony Gwynn continue to take key at-bats and do nothing with them.
Best of luck to Bobby in retirement, and hopefully we'll see him in Cooperstown.
