Bartolo Colon Announces Retirement; New York Mets to Honor Him in August

Bartolo Colon, aka 'Big Sexy' has officially announced his retirement from Major League Baseball. According to reports, Colon will be honored by the New York Mets with a ceremony in August.

Bartolo Colon, one of the most interesting baseball personalities of the last 25 years, officially announced his retirement on Friday.

According to reports, the New York Mets will honor Colon with a ceremony in August.

Per Hector Gomez on Twitter:

SOURCE: The New York Mets will hold an official retirement ceremony for Bartolo Colon on August 26th before a game where they will face the Angels at Citi Field.

Colon had an incredible career arc, which is what makes him so fascinating.

1) He played for 11 different teams during his 21-year career. Any time you run through a third of the league, that automatically makes you interesting. He spent parts of six seasons with the Cleveland franchise, part of one with the Montreal Expos, two years with the Chicago White Sox, four years with the Los Angeles Angels, one year with the Red Sox, one year with the Yankees, two years with the Athletics, three with the Mets, one with the Rangers and part of one with the Braves and Twins each.

2) Colon pitched until he was 45. If you can pitch until your mid-40s, that also makes you interesting automatically. And his style of pitching completely changed as he got older, which was fascinating to watch. When he first came up, he was a flamethrower. By the end, he was a nibbler who worked the corners with precision. He featured an incredible two-seamer the last few years of his career.

3) He figured out how to adapt as he got older. He made the All-Star team in three different decades of his career. He was there as a 25-year-old, a 32-year-old and he made it twice in his 40s (age 40 and age 43).

All that said, Colon was also suspended for steroid use, making him part of the conversation on one of the biggest stains in the game history.

All told, Colon went 247-188 in his career with a 4.12 ERA. He started 552 career games and threw more than 3,400 career innings. He had more than 2,500 career strikeouts.

He won a Cy Young award in 2005 with the Angels and also got Cy Young votes in four different seasons.

And who could forget the memorable home run he had in San Diego while a member of the Mets? It's one of the more iconic baseball highlights of the last decade.

Colon had been throwing for the last several months and videos had surfaced of those workouts, fueling thoughts of a comeback, but in the end, Colon's last pitch will have been thrown in 2018 with the Rangers.

Cheers to a great retirement, Big Sexy!

He isn't the only former Mets pitcher to retire this year. Matt Harvey announced his retirement as well.

Follow Fastball on FanNation in social media

Continue to follow our Fastball on FanNation coverage on social media by LIKING us on Facebook and by following us on Twitter @FastballFN.

You can also subscribe to "The Payoff Pitch" podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.