every career is finite

i saw recently that jon lester retired. one of the things he said was that he wanted to be the one to decide when he was done, rather than have someone else do it by way of being released or just not signed at all. i get it and i respect his decision. i don't know what i would do if i were a professional athlete. i've heard of guys who play a sport because they are good at it and can earn a lot of money, but they don't love it and so might retire sooner rather than later. and then there are guys who don't want to stop playing because it is too fun and/or rewarding. 

i would like to think that if it were me, i would go the steve carlton route and run the risk of tarnishing my career in the eyes of others a bit just to keep playing the game. to be able to retire at a relatively young age is a foreign concept to me, and i certainly don't begrudge those who have that option. in fact, i recently had a conversation with someone who was that very situation. they had retired around the age of 41 but have continued to work in various capacities over the last decade. they said there was too much time to not work. anyway, i am taking a long time to get to this card

a 2003 upper deck finite miguel cabrera card from the "major factors" subset. it's a base card that was numbered to 1599. it's not a parallel or insert. i guess i bought a lot of finite in 2003 because i found quite a few cards in one of those monster boxes in my basement that i've mentioned a few times. this cabrera was the best of the bunch for sure (anyone want a ryan madson card from this set? i've got two).

cabrera is definitely at the back end of his career. he does still have a couple of years on his contract, but that doesn't mean the tigers couldn't cut him loose. i am sure there are many who think that he should hang it up - we heard similar opinions about albert pujols over the last few seasons - but i am glad that miggy is still playing. i am looking forward to him getting his 3000th hit early in the 2022 season and playing with some newly acquired talent in detroit. it's his career and he can decide when he's done just like lester or let someone else decide for him like carlton. and, if it's someone else who decides for him, that's a risk he (and most of the rest of us for that matter) seems ok with taking. for what it's worth, i hope pujols signs with someone for 2022 as well.

very few have retired and unretired - ryne sandberg comes to mind - so why not just make the most of the finite time you have and play for as long as you can.