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Colorado Rockies outfielder Charlie Blackmon will retire after spending his entire 14-year major league career with the organization.
Blackmon announced his impending retirement on social media on Tuesday, saying he continues to play the game like a kid because he loves it, but he no longer feels like a kid and his perspective has changed.
“I have been fortunate to call the city of Denver and the Colorado Rockies my baseball home for my entire career,” he said in a statement. “I am grateful for the support of this organization, my teammates and most importantly, the Rockies fans. It is with a grateful heart and the memories of a career that I choose a new path.”
Blackmon, a second-round pick in the 2008 MLB Draft out of Dallas, made his major league debut in 2011 and became one of the faces of the Rockies starting in 2014. Known for his bushy beard and his walk-up song “Your Love” from The Outfield, he became a reliable hitter for the NL West club.
He won the National League batting title in 2017 after batting .331 and setting a career high with 37 home runs and 104 RBIs. He finished fifth in MVP voting that season and led baseball in hits, runs and triples while leading Colorado to its first postseason appearance in eight seasons. The following season, he led the Rockies to their first playoff series victory since 2007.
Blackmon was a four-time All-Star and two-time Silver Slugger. In his career through the final week of the 2024 regular season, he has a .292 batting average with 226 home runs and 797 RBI. He is the Rockies’ career leader with 67 triples, and his 1,797 hits, 2,942 total bases, 333 doubles and 1,618 games played are second only to Hall of Famer Todd Helton in team history.
The 38-year-old has six games left in his career, all at Coors Field. Colorado plays a three-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals before closing the regular season with three games against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Rockies are in last place in the NL West at 60-96 and are out of the race for the postseason.
The team plans to honor Blackmon during its final regular-season series, including a ceremony before Sunday’s finale.
“When Charlie told me of his plans to retire, I got a little emotional, as I’m sure many fans will when they hear the news that one of the greatest Rockies of all time will no longer be on the field,” Rockies owner, chairman and CEO Dick Monfort said in a statement. “It was an absolute privilege to watch Charlie’s career from start to finish here at Coors Field. Charlie’s passion and dedication to the game of baseball, this organization and our great fans were on display every day, and I can’t thank him enough for putting his heart into every game and every at-bat over the course of his 14 years here. Charlie is a Rockie through and through, and although his playing days are over, he will continue to be a part of this team in many ways well into the future.”
