Indians Fan Favorite Lonnie Chisenhall Announces His Retirement
At the tender age of 31, Lonnie Chisenhall has decided it's time to hang up his cleats and move on to the next adventure.
That's right, the former Cleveland Indians third baseman and outfielder has hung up his cleats, telling J.J. Smith of the Cartaret County News-Times injuries have caught up to him and that he wants to spend more time with his family moving forward.
Lonnie Chisenhall Retires https://t.co/qlnbEqBd59 pic.twitter.com/zbaCB3p9Ou
— MLB Trade Rumors (@mlbtraderumors) February 24, 2020
“I’ve only played 29 games in the past two years," Chisenhall said an interview with Smith. "So between that, and I have three kids at home, they are all in school, traveling around the country wasn’t practical anymore. It was a pretty easy decision."
Chisenhall retires after playing in 688 games in the bigs, all with the Cleveland Indians between 2011 and 2018. He signed a one-year deal with the Pirates in 2019, but was limited to seven games in Triple-A and never made it to Pittsburgh. He battled calf injuries late in his career with both organizations.
Since the #Indians drafted Manny Ramirez in 1991, only two 1st round picks have posted a higher WAR in a Tribe uniform than Lonnie Chisenhall: CC Sabathia and Francisco Lindor
— Matt Bretz (@MattB_WOF) February 24, 2020
He's 8th all-time (Ramirez, Sabathia, Lindor, Nagy, Swindell, Fosse, Manning). The draft started in '65 https://t.co/RskQqxFeQQ
In his eight years with the Tribe, he belted 286 homers. He added 587 hits and 296 RBI.