Now that Jon Lester has announced his retirement from baseball after 16 major league seasons, there will undoubtedly be a good discussion about his Hall of Fame candidacy in five years.
But as far as his teammates are concerned, there is no debate.
“I told my kids, I’m not going until Jon gets in,” former Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs teammate John Lackey said. “That’s when we’re going to Cooperstown. I can’t wait to be there.”
Debate about Lester’s Cooperstown credentials will center on his numbers on the field: He won 200 games, played an integral part in three World Series titles for two historic organizations, authored a no-hitter and made five All-Star teams. But his teammates will most remember him for his intensity on the mound and personality in the clubhouse. To them, he was the very definition of a winner.
“If you’re building a baseball player, as far as how they treat other people, what their goals are, how you want them to compete and act on and off the field, he’s the model,” Chicago Cubs manager David Ross said.
A sequence from a midsummer game in the final weeks of his career might sum up the left-hander best.
Listen: BBTN podcast on Jon Lester’s retirement
In mid-August, Lester was on the mound for the St. Louis Cardinals, still trying to play their way into the playoff race, against the NL Central-leading Milwaukee Brewers. In the top of the first inning, Brewers star Christian Yelich hit a 106-mph line drive off Lester’s calf for an infield single.
After getting the next batter out to end the inning, Lester was clearly hurting when he came to the dugout. Pitching coach Mike Maddux told him they had a reliever ready and he could come out of the game.
Lester wasn’t having any of it.
“My calf is nowhere near my heart,” he told Maddux. “I’m not coming out.”
He stayed in for three more innings in a game the Cardinals would go on to win. Two months later, when the Cardinals earned a wild-card berth, it marked the 11th time that a team employing Jon Lester…
Source : espn
