A month ago, Jay Bruce faced an uncertain future as Yankees spring training headed to its conclusion, but an injury to Luke Voit gave him the opportunity to become the everyday first baseman for the Yankees during Voit’s absence.
Ten games and 39 plate appearances later, Bruce’s tenure with the Yankees will come to an end after Sunday’s game, as he finalizes a decision to retire that has been weighing on his mind, in some respect or another, since even as far back as last winter.
“After the 2020 season, I felt like this could be wrapping up and my days could be numbered,” Bruce said before Sunday’s game. “My biggest goal was to come in, prove I was healthy, and give myself a fair chance to be the player I’ve been. I felt healthy this spring, and the situation changed pretty rapidly when Luke got hurt and I made the team, but just the consistent underperformance for me, it felt like I wasn’t able to do it at a level that was acceptable to myself. That was the ultimate deciding factor.”
Bruce admitted that the thought of retirement stopped leaving his mind about a week ago, and after thinking it through, he decided to tell manager Aaron Boone on Friday of his decision that it was time to retire, telling Boone in a 20-minute conversation that he was hanging up the spikes because he didn’t feel like he could be the Jay Bruce he expected himself to be anymore.
“It was tough; my plan was to tell him (Sunday), but I felt like if I were Aaron, and a player in my clubhouse knew this was coming, I would want to know, so I wanted to let him know I was all in this weekend, and give them time to get their ducks in a row,” Bruce said. “I told him I appreciated the opportunity they gave me, and he was supportive of that, and appreciative that I didn’t just pack up and go home.”
In his 25-minute final media session, Bruce often reiterated that he is proud of the way he has always gone about his business the right way, and this was the ultimate opportunity to show that. Boone, he said, was very supportive, as was everyone he talked to, who all understood that by the way he spoke, Bruce was confident in his decision.
“The best thing about it is that I know; if I thought I could live up to my standards, I’d still be going, but there’s no shame in that for me,” Bruce said. “I’ve given it hell throughout my career and worked so hard, dedicated my life to it. The reason I chose to do this is because after playing pretty much every day for 13 years, I set a standard of what I expect from myself from a performance standpoint. I know what I’m capable of, and ultimately, I felt like I couldn’t perform at the level I expected of myself. For me to do what I needed to do, it wasn’t in the cards.”
Bruce has been playing select baseball since he was 14 years old, and over two decades, he has made a lot of stops; he says all of them helped shape him as a player and a person, but he will always be grateful that his final stop was the Yankees.
“My sentiment doesn’t change about the opportunity I had to play here,” Bruce said. “I had other options, and I chose the Yankees because they are the Yankees, and I believe the guys in that room are as capable as anyone, if not more capable, of winning a World Series.”
Boone said pregame he has no set plan to get Bruce into Sunday’s game for one final moment, but whether he does or doesn’t – and no matter what happens if he does – Bruce is at peace with however the final page of this chapter of his life is written.
“It’s tough, but I feel at peace with it, and I feel so great about the game,” Bruce said. “I love the game of baseball, always have and always will. I don’t feel jaded by it, or mad at it, or like anything was taken from me. I feel like baseball chose me, and it gave me so much, and I hope that I leave it better than I found it. I feel good about the decision, and thankful I could be honest with myself to understand it was time for this chapter to close.”
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