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Edgar Renteria officially retires from baseball

A two-time World Series MVP, Edgar Renteria officially announced his retirement on Thursday. (Elsa/Getty Images)

A two-time World Series MVP, Edgar Renteria officially announced his retirement on Thursday. (Elsa/Getty Images)

Longtime major-league shortstop Edgar Renteria officially announced his retirement from baseball on Thursday, he told RCN Television in his native Colombia.

"I'm definitely retired from baseball and it will soon be announced in the majors," Renteria said, according to a rough translation of his comments at CBS Sports. "I decided to retire from baseball and try to spend all my time with my family.

"I always wanted Colombia to know before the rest of the world. This is my official retirement," he added. "I feel proud, I feel satisfied with what I did, my heart is telling me that's enough and it's time to retire. You have to know when to retire and that's why I took a year and a half to rest and think about what I was going to do. This is the right time."

Renteria hasn't played in the majors since 2011, when he appeared in 96 games with the Cincinnati Reds. The 36-year-old won two World Series titles — and two World Series MVP awards.

Renteria had the winning hits in both of his teams' World Series triumphs. In 1997 with the Florida Marlins, Renteria hit a memorable walk-off single in Game 7 of the Fall Classic against the Cleveland Indians. And in 2010 with the San Francisco Giants, he belted a go-ahead three-run homer in the seventh inning of Game 5 of the World Series against the Texas Rangers. Renteria is one of four players with two World Series-winning hits, along with Yogi Berra, Joe DiMaggio and Lou Gehrig.

In 16 major-league seasons, Renteria batted .286 with a .341 on-base percentage and .741 OPS. He hit 140 career homers and had 923 career RBI. His best single season came in 2003 with the St. Louis Cardinals, when he batted .330 with 13 homers, 100 RBI and an .874 OPS.