Inside The Red Sox

Red Sox World Series Champ Ends Career After 13 Seasons

The former Boston Red Sox fan-favorite is hanging up his cleats...
Patrick McAvoy|
Sep 6, 2020; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; An empty Fenway Park is seen during the game between the Boston Red Sox and the Toronto Blue Jays. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-Imagn Images
Sep 6, 2020; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; An empty Fenway Park is seen during the game between the Boston Red Sox and the Toronto Blue Jays. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-Imagn Images | Winslow Townson-Imagn Images

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Boston Red Sox

One former Boston Red Sox fan-favorite is wrapping up his big league career, without saying the word "retirement."

Three-time World Series champion Joe Kelly hasn't pitched in a big league game since 2024. Earlier in the week, Kelly joined WEEI's Rob Bradford on the "Baseball Isn't Boring" podcast and called it quits, but specifically avoided the word "retirement."

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"Retiring is like something that my grandmother did," Kelly said to Bradford. "It's so disrespectful. I'm sorry to all you people out there watching this that work a real job. You guys deserve to retire. Athletes don't. We just stop (expletive) playing. It's used for people who served in the military. It's used for people who work until (65 years old) like they have to. They probably don't even like their job, but they had to. So, when athletes are done playing, just say congratulations. They're no longer playing. No more retirement (expletive)."

The former Red Sox flamethrower is hanging them up

Kelly played parts of 13 big league seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals, Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Chicago White Sox. The flamethrower was a significant piece of the Red Sox's bullpen en route to the 2018 World Series. Overall, he spent parts of five seasons in Boston and had a 4.33 ERA across 182 regular-season appearances. Boston is the club where Kelly made his most regular-season appearances of his major league career.

Kelly will be remembered the most in Boston for being nails in the playoffs -- and also fighting Tyler Austin when he was a member of the New York Yankees.

Kelly appeared in 14 games for the Red Sox in the playoffs throughout his stint with the organization. Over that stretch, he logged an eye-popping 0.51 ERA and 17-to-0 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 17 2/3 innings pitched. You can't really get much better than that.

The flamethrower was beloved in Boston -- and everywhere else he went. What a run and a perfect way to announce it's over.

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Patrick McAvoy
PATRICK MCAVOY

Patrick McAvoy's experiences include local and national sports coverage at the New England Sports Network with a focus on baseball and basketball. Outside of journalism, Patrick received an MBA at Brandeis University. For all business/marketing inquiries regarding Boston Red Sox On SI, please reach out to Scott Neville: scottneville21@gmail.com

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