Steve Pearce is calling it a career.
Officially.
The former Boston Red Sox first baseman, who was one of the team’s World Series heroes in 2018, told WEEI that he is retiring.
“You know what? It has been a good run. I have 10 years in there. Right now I am officially retired,” Pearce said during an appearance on the station’s rebroadcast of Game 1 2018 World Series.
This isn’t a complete surprise, as Pearce had told WEEI’s Rob Bradford back in December that he was “unofficially” retired.
Pearce was named World Series MVP in 2018 after a late June trade earlier in that season sent him from the Toronto Blue Jays to the Red Sox. He would go on to play 13 games during the playoffs, hitting .289 with four homers and 11 RBIs.
The then-35-year-old appeared in all five Fall Classic games, hitting .333 with three home runs. He knocked a game-tying homer in the eighth inning of Game 4, later securing the win an inning later with a bases-clearing double to score three. He would proceed to hit a pair of dingers in the clinching game.
The postseason performance prompted Dave Dombrowski to re-sign Pearce for 2019, but injuries marred his campaign and limited him to just 29 games. His last big league game came May 31 against the New York Yankees, getting pulled in the second inning after one at-bat.
