Eric Thames (37), who dominated the Korean professional baseball KBO league as a member of the NC Dinos in the mid-2010s, announced his retirement as a player.토토사이트
Thames announced his retirement as a player through his SNS on the 16th (Korean time). In addition, Thames expressed his love for Korea by conveying the news of his retirement in Korean.
On this day, Thames said in Korean, “All of this happened in a few days in 2013, from thinking about retirement to signing with NC.”
“I never thought I would fall in love with a country so quickly. I certainly had no idea how much fun it would be to play in the KBO. For all the reasons to support you, I really did my best in training.”
“Thank you so much for embracing me and Dinos. No matter which KBO team you support, I love you all! I plan to visit Korea frequently, and if you see me, please do not hesitate to say hello,” he announced his retirement to Korean fans.
Thames spent 2013 in the minor leagues after a poor performance with the Seattle Mariners in 2012. Later, Thames signed a contract with NC ahead of the 2014 season.
Since then, Thames has become the best foreign player in Korean professional baseball history after only playing for three seasons. His impact in 2015 in particular is still talked about.
In 142 games in the 2015 season, Thames had a batting average of 0.381, 47 home runs, 140 RBIs, 130 runs, 180 hits, and an on-base percentage of 0.498 OPS of 1.288.
In addition, Thames recorded 40 stolen bases along with 47 homers, making him the first 40 homers and 40 stolen bases in Asian professional leagues beyond Korea.
Afterwards, Thames played an active role in NC until the 2016 season, and then announced a return to the major leagues ahead of the 2017 season and signed a contract with the Milwaukee Brewers.
Thames hit only 23 home runs before coming to Korea, but hit 72 home runs in three seasons from 2017 to 2019.
But Thames suffered a sharp decline in 2020. In the end, Thames could not return to the major league stage again and chose to retire.