Ryan Zimmerman, the longtime face of the Washington Nationals, has decided to hang up his cleats after a 17-year Major League career.
Zimmerman, 37, was the first-ever draft selection (4th overall) by the Nationals during the organization's inaugural 2005 season in D.C. He owns team records in home runs (284), hits (1,846) and RBI (1,061).
En route to becoming the most reliable face in Washington's dugout, Zimmerman earned the nickname 'Mr. Walk-Off' for a reason, stroking an incredible 11 game-winning home runs at home in the nation's capital, more than any other Major League during the span of his 17-year career. That included his walk-off to commemorate the opening of Nationals Park in 2008.
Zimmerman made the announcement through his charitable foundation:
Zimmerman, a two-time All-Star, two-time Silver Slugger and one-time Gold Glove award winner, didn't reach the peak of his career until his 15th year in the big leagues, when leading the Nationals to a World Series title in 2019, the first-ever in franchise history.
As the grizzled veteran told a standing room-only crowd in the nation's capital to celebrate the first-in-a-century accomplishment, "We're 2019 World Series champs and nobody can ever take that away from us."
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