Tim Wakefield recently told Jon Paul Morosi of CBS Sports about how he is settling into his retirement.
In his exact words as reported on Twitter:
"It's been difficult. The fire to compete is still there. But it's been fun to be home, be a dad, a husband."
Many baseball players go through this same set of emotions. It must be exciting to finally settle in to a more "normal" life of staying at home and being with the family. However, at the same time, it must be difficult to leave behind a game that has surely influenced his life in such a great way.
Wakefield is definitely not the first baseball player to experience this phenomenon. Just recently, Andy Pettitte tried his hand at the retirement lifestyle, but is back in Major League Baseball after only one year away.
I am not claiming that Wakefield will return next season, but I'm simply using Pettitte as an example of a baseball player who thought that he had called it quits but couldn't stay away.
Baseball is a lifestyle for these men. Most of them have probably been playing since they were five or six years old, and it is hard to break away from such a strong force in their lives.
Tim Wakefield had an excellent career and should definitely be proud of that. The decision to retire must have been incredibly difficult, but now that he has made that choice, I am glad everything is working out so well for him. His new stage of life will certainly bring another great set of rewards; in fact, it already is as shown in this video from NESN.
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