NEW YORK — Jay Bruce will be retiring after the New York Yankees‘ game against Tampa Bay on Sunday.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone made the announcement prior to Sunday’s game.
“He actually came to me at the start of the series,” Boone said. “He let me know his thinking.”
“After 14 incredible seasons, I’ve decided to make the very difficult decision to retire from baseball,” Bruce said in a statement given to The Athletic. “All I ever wanted to be ‘when I grew up’ was a baseball player, and to say that I got to live out my dream would be the understatement of a lifetime. This sport gave me more than I could’ve ever asked for.”
The 34-year-old Bruce is a three-time All-Star outfielder. He went to spring training with the Yankees on a minor league contract and made the major league roster as a first baseman when Luke Voit tore the meniscus in his left knee.
Bruce is hitting .118 with one homer and three RBIs in 39 plate appearances, and he remained active for Sunday’s game.
He has a .244 average with 319 homers and 951 RBIs in 14 major league seasons with Cincinnati (2008-16), the New York Mets (2016-18), Cleveland (2017), Seattle (2019), Philadelphia (2019-20) and the Yankees.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.