When the 2025 MLB season begins, the Colorado Rockies will have a gaping hole in the outfield. They’ll be without one of the best players in franchise history and a man who became a fixture in the Rockies lineup for the last 14 seasons.
Outfielder and designated hitter Charlie Blackmon announced via Instagram on Monday that he will retire when the 2024 season comes to a close against the Los Angeles Dodgers this Sunday.
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“I have been blessed to call the city of Denver and the Colorado Rockies my baseball home for the entirety of my career,” Blackmon wrote in his post. “… Today I’m a ballplayer looking over the fence into uncertainty. For what is behind me, I am grateful. My cup runs over. I have been blessed more than any man should expect.”
He then thanked his family and his wife, Ashley. Blackmon continued later: “I have been saved by grace and divine intervention has tilted the scales in my direction.”
The 38-year-old lefty known around the majors for his long, shaggy beard spent his entire 14-year career with the Rockies, hitting 226 homers and batting in 797 runs with .292 average. Colorado drafted Blackmon in the second round of the 2008 draft out of Georgia Tech, and he made his MLB debut in June 2011. In the years since, he’s become the franchise’s all-time leader in triples (67), won a National League batting title (2017), was a two-time Silver Slugger (2016-17), and earned four All-Star selections (2014, 2017-19).
In addition to his exploits on the baseball diamond throughout his career, Blackmon has also spoken about his faith.
“Baseball is something that I spend a lot of time doing but you can’t turn baseball into an idol, what you derive your self-worth from,” Blackmon told the Christian Broadcasting Network in 2017. “It has to be something you do, not who you are. And once I figured all those things out, honestly baseball seemed a lot smaller to me, with the ups and downs and the struggles of failure that are going to happen, inevitably, within the game of baseball.
“… [God’s] grace is something that I try to understand, but it’s hard to comprehend. I try and learn more about Him every day. And I just want to represent our God in what I do on the field, how I treat people and what I’m thinking all the time also. I think that’s very important.”
Blackmon told Sports Spectrum in 2018 that “the baseball culture hasn’t made Jesus very cool,” but he had found deep Christian community and discipleship with the Rockies.
“If you actually believe Jesus is who He says He is and that He died for our sins, then you can’t just ignore that fact and go on doing whatever you feel like you’re doing. Authenticity is going to show up. People are going to find you out if you’re just talking the talk and not walking the walk,” he told CBN.
Blackmon sought to “walk the walk” of faith in the public eye for 14 years, and now as he hangs up his glove for good, he can rejoice that the love of Christ for him will never fade.
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