Bartolo Colón will receive a proper MLB departure in August, nearly a year after Colón announced his intention to retire from baseball, according to baseball insider Héctor Gómez,
Colón, who turned 50 in April, would be honored at a ceremony at Citi Field before the Aug. 26 game between the New York Mets and Los Angeles Angels. He pitched four years with the Angels from 2004 to 2007 and three years with the Mets from 2014 to 2016. Colón’s career spanned 21 years and 11 different clubs.
He last saw MLB in 2018 for the Texas Rangers, where he pitched 146.1 innings with a 5.78 ERA, 1.346 WHIP and 81 strikeouts. Colón has a career ERA of 4.12, a WHIP of 1.312 and 2,535 career strikeouts. He made four All-Stars and was the winner of Cy Young in 2005, his second with the Angels, after Colón led MLB with 21 wins.
But perhaps Colón was best known for his first and only career home run. He hit a dinger to left field in a 2016 game for the Mets against the Padres.
Although he has been out of MLB for some time, Colón threw 3.2 innings for Águilas Cibaeñas of the Dominican Professional Baseball League from 2018 to 2019 as well as 61.1 innings for Acereros de Monclova of the Mexican League in 2021. He also threw the first pitch in the Mets’ May 7 game against the Rockies on the seventh anniversary of his iconic home run.