Swisher announces retirement from baseball

After 12 years in the majors, Nick Swisher - one of the most energetic and well-recognized personalities - has decided to call it a career.

Swisher revealed his decision on the Players' Tribune in a detailed and very spirited post explaining why he felt the time was right.

"And now I’m gonna bring that same energy to everything else I do now that I’m officially retiring from Major League Baseball," he said.

"This is something I’ve been thinking about for a while. I mean, your body tells you when it’s time to call it quits. And this offseason, my body was screaming, 'The dream is over, baby!' And I can’t argue with that. My dream was to play until I was 40 years old, and to be honest, I’m 36 now, and I’m lucky to have played as long as I did. I was never really hurt much in my career, and I didn’t spend a lot of time on the disabled list."

The 36-year-old underwent two knee surgeries in August 2014 and struggled to stay on the field after that. He admitted he "felt like a piece of glass" after he got back in 2015 which factored into his decision.

Swisher played for the Oakland Athletics, Chicago White Sox, New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians, and Atlanta Braves. He leaves as a career .249/.351/.447 hitter which included a World Series championship in 2009 and an All-Star appearance in 2010 - both with the Yankees.