Adios, El Caballo

[doublem23]

Though he hasn't played this year yet, Carlos Lee made it official today that he is indeed retired

http://espndeportes.espn.go.com/news...bei&type=story

[DSpivack]

My fondest memory of him involves a crosstown game, Rooney and Farmer on the radio, and hitting my head on the basement ceiling and getting a bad headache when that game ended.

[RKMeibalane]

My fondest memory of Carlos involves his being pulled from a game because he was starting at women in the LF bleachers.

[#1swisher]

FOX Sports: MLB
After 14 seasons with CWS, MIL, TEX, HOU and MIA, Carlos Lee has officially announced his retirement at the age of 37.

[doublem23]

Originally Posted by DSpivack

My fondest memory of him involves a crosstown game, Rooney and Farmer on the radio, and hitting my head on the basement ceiling and getting a bad headache when that game ended.

Remember when those games used to really mean something? I was working at Jewel when that happened, we had the game on in the back room, and half the store staff went nuts and the other half were pissed.



Probably still to this day one of the most exciting non-2005 White Sox homers I can remember.

[thomas35forever]

Thanks for the memories, El Caballo. You made the scoreboard go off like few others.

[doublem23]

Originally Posted by thomas35forever

Thanks for the memories, El Caballo. You made the scoreboard go off like few others.

8

http://www.baseball-reference.com/te...ders_bat.shtml

[Foulke You]

I loved Carlos Lee. He wasn't the most heads up player nor was he much for defense but man could he mash the ball. He hit a ton of big RBIs for the Sox in his career. I attended his debut game in 1999 and he hit a HR off Tom Candiotti in his first ever MLB AB. I remember I went to that game with my Dad and he asked me if this "Lee guy" was supposed to be any good. I told him that all I knew about him was that he was hitting a lot of HRs in the minors. No sooner did the words escape my lips, we heard the crack of the bat and outta the park it went.

My other favorite Carlos Lee HR was the one others mentioned where he walked off the Cubs with a grand slam on an 0-2 pitch. That was the loudest I've ever heard our ballpark for a non-playoff game.

[Huisj]

My favorite Carlos Lee memory was the gave tying homer he hit off Mariano Rivera in leading off the 9th in a game in the June of 2000 when the Sox were on fire. It was a week after the 7-day 7-win road trip to Cleveland and New York. I had a closing shift at my summer job, and in the car on the way home I heard that the Sox had just given up 2 runs to fall behind by a run.

I got home in time to turn it on on WGN to see Lee mash a rocket HR to left on the first pitch of the inning. I jumped and pumped my fist and woke up my dad from upstairs, and he came down expecting to complain to me to keep it down, but then realized what had just happened and stuck around to watch the end.

They continued on to win by manufacturing a run on a single (Herbert Perry), a sacrifice bunt (Brooke Fordyce), and groundout to move the runner to 3rd (Ray Durham), and a broken bat looper over the infield by Jose Valentin that I later had vivid flashbacks to when Luis Gonzalez got basically the same hit off a Rivera cutter to end the 2001 World Series. Heck of time to get home from work in the middle of a heck of a fun stretch in a fun season.

[Brian26]

I loved that 2000 team.

Not sure why, but my memory of CLee will be when his uniform got stuck on the scoreboard at the base of the Green Monster in 2004.

[DSpivack]

Originally Posted by Brian26

I loved that 2000 team.

Not sure why, but my memory of CLee will be when his uniform got stuck on the scoreboard at the base of the Green Monster in 2004.

That was the first season I started going to a bunch of games, I was in the middle of HS and went to that Opening Night with a number of friends. That night was electric.

[Brian26]

Imagine the 2013 Sox trying to show a fraction of the fire and passion that those young guys did against Detroit in that fight. That was an easy team to root for.

[DSpivack]

Originally Posted by Brian26

Imagine the 2013 Sox trying to show a fraction of the fire and passion that those young guys did against Detroit in that fight. That was an easy team to root for.

If only that team had this pitching staff. It's amazing to me, with the benefit of hindsight, that they won 95 games with that no-name staff.

[TaylorStSox]

Originally Posted by Brian26

I loved that 2000 team.

Not sure why, but my memory of CLee will be when his uniform got stuck on the scoreboard at the base of the Green Monster in 2004.

They were fun to watch. They had some great hitters, but my God, the pitching and fielding were bad.

Carlos Lee retiring makes me feel old. He was as frustrating a player as you'll ever see, but he could rake.

[Chez]

One of Hawk's best nicknames. I believe Carlos has a brother also named Carlos Lee.