Retirements
Dave Macy
Dave Macy was a slap-hitting CF who was just coming into his own when he was hit by a beanball on the afternoon of September 8th. He lost the sight in one of his eyes and while his prognosis otherwise looks good, he will never play baseball again.
Ryan Rush
Ryan Rush hung up the spikes following a 21-year career which will surely land him in the Hall of Fame. He flashed quite a bit of power in his early days, peaking at 190 strikeouts in 1915, but became more and more of a finesse pitcher as the years progressed. With that desire to pitch to contact more came more success. 20 games under .500 at the age of 25, Rush didn't get his first 20-win season in his 7th year in the major leagues and had to wait another 9 years for his 2nd. Although he also had to wait until he was 35 to pitch in his 1st World Series (with Boston in 1929), he ended up playing in 3 of them in all and pitching in 5 games.
Matt Snyder
Snyder's career spans roughly the same amount of time as Rush's, but where "Pinto" Rush's journey was from mediocre youngster to wily and effective veteran, Snyder's career was closer to your standard variety. At age 30, he'd achieved his 5th 20-win victory season and had just gone 40-18 the previous 2 seasons but he'd continue to be a top-level pitcher for just 3 more years. In 1930 he went 16-12 but did so with a 5.18 ERA, 27 homeruns, 77 doubles, and an opposing tri-split of 308/339/475. The control was there, if little else.
Snyder did recover enough to lead the Cubs to the World Series in 1931, although his 3.85 ERA was enough to signal that something was amiss. The past two seasons he just couldn't stay healthy and that is what appears to have led to his decision to retire. His 316 career victories rank 13th all-time.
