Brian Roberts' 14-year major league baseball career is finally coming to a close.
The second baseman - who spent the first 13 years of his career with the Baltimore Orioles before spending this past season with the New York Yankees - announced Saturday that he won't be returning to play a 15th, the Baltimore Sun reports.
The 37-year-old Roberts - who hit only .237 in 91 games with the Yankees - was released by the team this past August. He said at the time that two "very good teams" were interested in signing him, but decided against signing with either and came to the realization as time went on that he could no longer play at the level he demanded of himself.
"It was just kind of my time. There were numerous reasons that I felt like I couldn't play at a level that I was accustomed to and wanted to play at if I continued to play," said Roberts. "I always said that I wasn't going to be the guy that tried to hang on as long as I could."
Roberts originally entered the Orioles organization as a supplemental first round draft pick in 1999. By 2004 he had become Baltimore's full-time second baseman and leadoff hitter and in 2005, made his first All-Star game.
Roberts was an All-Star twice in his almost decade and a half career.
"If you knew me from the time I was in high school I certainly wouldn't say I was the most overconfident person in the world in my baseball abilities. I battled that, off and on, my whole career, whether I was going to be good enough," he said. "I don't know if that came from the expectations of being the kid of a baseball coach at a prominent school or being the smallest guy on the field, but I definitely thank God for the opportunity that he gave me."
He wasn't always the biggest or fastest, but Roberts got everything he could out of his 5'9", 175-pound frame.
He is second all-time on the Orioles' stolen base list (278) and is in the top 10 in hits (1,452), runs scored (810) and doubles (351), among other categories.
"The game is an incredible game to play, to watch, to be a part of. Certainly I wish some of the things had gone a little differently," said Roberts. "But, at the same time, I hope that it changed me as a person as much as it did anything else."
