Citing the desire to stay home in California with his family, former All Star right fielder Shawn Green has announced his retirement to the New York Post.

Green had a bit of a resurgence last season hitting .291/.352/.430 while playing with the Mets. Claiming that six or seven teams were interested in him but none close enough to California, “I wanted to stay here with my family,” Green said. “Not travel around the country anymore. I enjoyed playing a lot. I enjoyed New York. But for me, it was time to be home.”

We’ll now take a look back at the career that was Shawn Green.

When the Toronto Blue Jays drafted Green as the 16th overall pick in 1991 the team knew that Green had ideas of going to college.

The two reached a deal in which Green would attend Stanford University during the off season and play baseball during the summer. His 725K signing bonus was one of the largest of the time.

He would reach All Star status in his first year of minor league ball by 1994 had reached Triple-A. He had also received late season call ups in 1993 and 1994 for the major league club before getting extensive playing time in 1995.

Green still wasn’t a full time player due to the Blue Jays commitments to Jose Canseco and it wasn’t until 1889 that he would play more then 140 games in a season.

Along with Carlos Delgado the young outfielder went on a torrid hitting spree the next two seasons that helped the Blue Jays finish a close third to the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox.

In 1998 alone he hit 35 homers and drove in 100 RBI he also became the tenth Major Leaguer to hit 35 or more home runs and steal 35 or more bases in a season, joining among others Willie Mays, Barry Bonds, and Alex Rodriguez.

The next year he would raise the bar with 35 homers, 123 RBI and stealing 35 bases. He would also be selected to his first All-Star team in 1999 and later was awarded with the silver slugger award.

During the Green expressed a desire to sign as a free agent with a team closer to his California roots after the 2000 season. On November 8, 1999 he was traded along with Jorge Nunez to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Pedro Borbon and Raul Mondesi. Upon completion of the trade the Dodgers signed Shawn to a $84 million/6-year extension that included $4 million as a signing bonus.

With a lot of pressure riding on his now well-paid shoulders, Green struggled at times in 2000, his first season with Los Angeles. Still, he led the league in games played (with 162), and was 5th in the league in doubles (with 44), while driving in 99 runs and hitting 44 doubles (the second-highest total in Dodgers history). He also had one of the longest consecutive games on-base streaks in baseball history, at 53 — five behind Duke Snider’s modern day NL record. He hit .329 in late innings of close games.

Green had a career year in 2001, batting .297 (.331 with runners in scoring position) with a .598 slugging percentage (a career best), 49 home runs (a career best), 121 runs (7th in the league), 125 RBI (a career best), 370 total bases (5th in the league), and 20 stolen bases. His 49 home runs were a Dodgers single-season record, but only tied for 4th in the league, behind Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and Luis González. For the 4th straight year he stole 20 or more bases, and batted .331 with runners in scoring position. Green came in sixth in voting for league MVP.
Green made headlines for two decisions that he made during the 2001 season. On September 26, he stood by his word and sat out a game for the first time in 415 games, to honor the most significant holiday on the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur. He also made a second notable decision on September 26, donating his day’s pay of $75,000 to a charity for survivors of the New York 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Green started off slowly in 2002, but turned things around with a record-setting power display. On May 23, the turning point of his season, he had one of the best single game performance ever. He hit a Major League record-tying 4 home runs against the Milwaukee Brewers, and had 19 total bases, breaking Joe Adcock’s 1954 Major League record by one, while matching the major league record of 6 runs scored in one game. Green and Carlos Delgado are the only two people to have hit four home runs in one game and played on the same team at the same time. They are as of 2007 the two most recent players to hit four home runs in a single game. He hit a 5th home run during the following game to tie the Major League 2-game home run record (5), and then hit 2 more the game after to break the Major League 3-game record (7). Green also broke the National League record with 9 home runs in that calendar week. He was voted to the All-Star team, and finished the season with a .285 average, .385 OBP (a career best), 42 home runs (3rd in the league), 114 RBI (4th in the league), 114 runs (4th in the league), 93 walks (a career best), 22 intentional walks (5th in the league), and 20 stolen bases. He hit .333 with runners in scoring position and two out. Green came in 5th in voting for league MVP

In 2003, Green struggled with his power and RBI production. He had problems with tendinitis in his left shoulder, which limited him to a 19 home runs and 85 RBI as he batted .280. Still, he was 2nd in the league in doubles (with 49; a career best).

Green’s power improved in 2004, as he hit 28 home runs and collected 86 RBI, while batting .266, leading the Dodgers to the 2004 playoffs. Green moved to first base for much of the season. He hit three home runs in the post-season, in just 16 at bats.

Green was traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks on June 10, 2005. He waived his no-trade clause for a three-year extension from the team for $32 million. The trade was part of a three-team trade which sent Green and cash to the Diamondbacks, in exchange for catcher Dioner Navarro and three minor leaguers.

While Green’s batting average in 2005 (.286) was his best in four years, he walked fewer times (62) than he had in the prior 6 years, and hit fewer home runs (22) and scored fewer runs (87) than he had in all but seven of his prior seasons.Green came to bat 398 times with the Diamondback before being traded in 2006, and while his batting average and OBP were near his career averages, his slugging percentage (.425) was the lowest it had been since he broke into the Majors.

On August 22, 2006, Green was dealt, along with $6.5 million in cash, by the Arizona Diamondbacks to the New York Mets for Triple-A 23-year-old left-handed pitcher, Evan MacLane.

Green received a standing ovation in his first at bat as a Met. Green’s second at bat as a Met was an RBI single off Jason Marquis.

Overall, in 2006 Green had his worst offensive year in a decade. He hit only 15 home runs, with 66 RBI, four stolen bases, a .432 slugging percentage, and a .277 batting average. Green’s 15 home runs matched his second-lowest total since becoming a full-time player. He faded as the season progressed, dropping 65 points — and batting .240 — after the All Star break.

2006 marked only the second post-season appearance of Green’s career. In the 2006 playoffs, Green tied for the team lead with 3 doubles, and hit .313, second best on the team (as the Mets hit only .250).

Faced with having to play for his job Green put up his best numbers since his 2005 season. He finished the year with 10 homers hitting .291 and drove in 46 runs while sharing playing time. One notable achievement happened on September 25, he notched his 2,000th career hit.

Green assists several charities, including the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Special Olympics, Parkinsons Foundation, and the United Jewish Federation. He donated $250,000 of his salary each year to the Dodgers’ Dream Foundation ($1.5 million over 6 years), supporting the development of 4 Dodger Dream Fields throughout LA and the purchase of books for local elementary schools and youth community programs. He also served as Spokesman for the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles to promote literacy.

In 2007, Green pledged to donate $180 — or 10 times chai — to the UJA-Federation of New York for every run batted in. Chai, which means life in Hebrew, has a numerological value of 18 and the Jewish community often gives gifts in multiples of 18 as a result.

It’s rough that Green couldn’t get a contract offer from the San Fransisco Giants, Oakland A’s or San Diego Padres. All three teams figured to be looking for some help at the position and while they could be a few of the teams rumored to have contracted Green it’s also possible that the value of a contact could have caused them to shy away.

The thing you have to remember about Greenie is that he is just 35 now and likely could have played another three to four years at a high level.

Probably the most disappointingly thing about Green was his drop off following his 42 homers in 2002. Green’s power stroke and contact never seemed to recover following that season.

Most fans of baseball remember how Shawn Green finished his career, playing more like a fourth outfielder then the slugging Jewish kid who was among the games best from 1998 to 2003.

We wish Shawn the best of luck.

Green finishes his career with a .283/.355/.494 line with 328 home runs, 1070 RBI and 162 stolen bases in 1951 games in parts of 15 seasons.