Sean Doolittle at Nationals Park on Friday, mere hours after he announced his retirement from baseball and just before 106.7 The Fan Day at the yard.
He also joined Grant & Danny, who were live at the stadium that day, to discuss the announcement, and revealed that he was just two weeks out from an unexpected knee surgery that led, in part, to his decision to walk away.
“I had knee surgery two weeks ago, the patellar tendon in my right knee finally tore September 1st while I was pitching in a rehab game down in Florida,” he revealed, “and that ended up playing a big role in today's in today's events.”
Danny joked about racing him on the field, although Doolittle told him that “if I can use my crutches, I think I have a pretty good shot.”
All jokes aside, it was a tough day for Doolittle, who was honored by the Nationals after being a big part of the 2019 World Series and finishing his MLB career in DC in 2022 – and hoping to get back to the big leagues in the organization after UCL surgery last summer.
Not to be, as the knee injury made the lefty, who turns 37 Tuesday, decide his time was done after 11 MLB seasons, although he had been having those thoughts since initially injuring his knee months ago.
“I really started thinking about this decision around the end of June, after I tweaked my knee for the first time,” he said. “I knew when I went back down to Florida to try to rehab it, there was a chance that it could end up like this. So, I started working with the mental skills coach almost every day to try to maintain a good and healthy perspective, and you start thinking about a lot of things and you start reflecting a little bit on your career, and I've obviously done that a lot more here this past week.”
He’s finishing because of a setback from another injury, but he does so knowing he had had several second chances in a career that could’ve been derailed multiple times.
“Everything that I think about it just leads me back to this overwhelming feeling of gratitude,” Doolittle said. “I’ve been so lucky to get multiple second chances. I feel like I got a second chance to switch positions. When I got traded from Oakland, I had no idea what to expect, and to land here with this organization, ultimately ending in a World Series and an incredible relationship with the fans and the city…I don't deserve to have gotten that lucky that many times, and I'm just so appreciative of everything I got to be a part of.”
Being on the field at Nats Park on a cool, raw fall day brought back a lot of memories for both Grant & Danny and Doolittle, who admitted a love for September baseball above all no matter what.
“The chilly air in September feels way better than the chilly air in April,” Doolittle said. “September baseball was some of the most fun, whether the games meant something or not; there’s just something about playing baseball into the fall that I really loved, and obviously, we got to play all fall long in 2019.”
And that thought made Danny remember the final out of the NLDS against the Dodgers, which got the Nationals further than they had ever been for the first time.
“At the time, that was the World Series for us,” Doolittle said. “We were all very aware of the postseason history, and getting that monkey off our back, winning the game the way that we did after being down early and coming back to tie the game in the eighth, on the road in a must-win decisive Game 5, it just had everything; the emotions after Mikey (Taylor) popped up with the ball…I really wanted to punch (Justin Turner) out, but when I turned around and saw him do a diving catch, I was like, ‘oh, that's way more sick!’ I just lost it; that’s the highest I've ever jumped, the most athletic I've ever looked probably, and we had the magic, and were off and running.”
Now, four-ish years later, Doolittle called it a career on the same field he called home that season, and even though he’d rather have been there pitching to finish off his arm rehab, he’s ‘in a good place’ that it all came full-circle.
“I'm in a really good place and it took a lot of work,” Doolittle said. “I was trying to maintain a healthy perspective, and when I went back down to Florida, my goal was just to see how far can I get with this process by the end of the season knowing all the while that this was a possibility, but I have no regrets. I threw myself into it and I enjoyed doing the work. It’s hard for a player in baseball to have closure at the end of his career, but I feel like I have closure. I know now that beyond the shadow of a doubt, my body just can't do this anymore.”
Maybe not, but he’s hopeful he can find a way to still make a mark on baseball, albeit in a new way.
“I have a ton of passion for this game still, and I think I’ve learned a lot, and I think I can relate to a lot of different players,” Doolittle said. “As I got older in my career, I loved taking on that mentorship role. So, I don’t know a specific role yet, but I hope I can find a way to stick around.”