3x All-Star Whit Merrifield gets brutally honest about regrets in retirement letter

Three-time All-Star Whit Merrifield officially retired from MLB after nine seasons with four teams. In his retirement letter, he thanked everyone for the love and support they had shown him and explained why he decided to quit the field.

Merrifield said that after their daughter was born, his focus shifted to his family. Despite saying he’s not “talented enough,” he led the MLB in hits during the 2018-19 season.

Merrifield admitted to being frustrated for not being able to deliver the championship trophy to any of the teams he played for. During his career, he was part of the Royals, Blue Jays, Phillies and the Braves.

“My only baseball regret was never being able to help bring a championship to any of the cities I played for.”

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Whit Merrifield further added that the only things he’ll miss after retirement are night discussions, locker room times, show flights, and the back-and-forth banters with teammates. He's proud of what he’s accomplished, proving doubters wrong.

“I’m proud of myself. The toughness I developed and the things I was able to accomplish, nobody outside of my camp thought possible. I spent a lot of energy proving people wrong, but my real joy came from proving my small circle of believers right.”

“I’ll forget most of the hits, catches, and steals, but the relationships and stories that were made throughout my career will stay with me forever.”

Since the Kansas City Royals drafted him in 2010, he called the city his “first love.” He thanked the Toronto Blue Jays and the Atlanta Braves for being part of his journey and for the love he received along the way.

Whit Merrifield reveals special message for Phillies in retirement letter

Whit Merrifield had a special mention for the Philadelphia Phillies. He not only thanked them, but also noted that he’s sorry that he couldn’t do better.

“Philly, I liked you way more than you liked me. Sorry I stunk for you.”

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During his career, Merrifield recorded 17.8 bWAR in 1,147 games. Most of his time was spent with the Kansas City Royals. In his closing sentence, he penned that he can’t wait to talk about all these stories to his daughter.

About the author

Kaushani Chatterjee is a baseball journalist at Sportskeeda with over 4 years of experience at publications such as FirstSportz.

Her favorite teams are the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers. She is a fan of both the teams which left her conflicted during the 2024 World Series game.

She started watching the MLB during her school years and developed a keen interest in the sport. Now she is hooked.

Kaushani's hobbies include guitar, sketching, watching anime (tons of them), listening to music, and watching Asian dramas (Korean/Thai in general).

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Edited by Dipayan Moitra