Twins' Hunter retires after 19 seasons: 'Mentally, I think it's time'

Minnesota Twins outfielder Torii Hunter is calling it a career following 19 major-league seasons.

"I'm sad because it's all I've known for half of my life," Hunter told LaVelle E. Neal of the Star Tribune. "This great game of baseball has done so much for me. I have learned a lot of lessons. They say baseball is life and life is baseball, and I used baseball and applied it to my life. So I got through a lot of hardships and a lot of hard times and I learned from them and I made adjustments, which you have to do in the game of baseball as well as the game of life. So baseball taught me a lot.

"But mentally, I think it's time. I still love the game, but time has taken a toll on me mentally and physically."

Selected 20th overall by the Twins in 1993, Hunter spent the first 11 years of his career in Minneapolis, before stops with the Los Angeles Angels and Detroit Tigers. He signed a one-year deal with Minnesota in December, bringing his career full circle.

The 40-year-old finished this season hitting .240/.293/.409 with 22 home runs and 81 RBIs across 139 games, and helped a young Twins team finish just three games shy of a playoff berth with a surprising 83-79 record.

"It meant the world to me," Hunter said of finishing his career in Minnesota. "This is where it all started. Molly (Paul Molitor) was the manager. It was the perfect scenario to come back and finish my career with the Twins, possibly get to the postseason. The perfect scenario would be to win the World Series with those guys this year. We fell short, but we did have a winning season and there were a lot of positives that came out."

Hunter appeared in 2,372 career games, hitting .277/.331/.461 with 2,452 hits, 353 home runs, 1,391 RBIs, and 195 stolen bases. He was a five-time All-Star, and won nine Gold Gloves and two Silver Sluggers.