Philadelphia Phillies icon Cole Hamels has been placed on the voluntary retired list, the San Diego Padres announced Friday. Hamels had signed a minor-league deal with the Padres back in February.
This seemingly marks the end in baseball for the 39-year-old, who last pitched in the majors for the Atlanta Braves during the pandemic-shortened season. Since then, Hamels has had failed comeback attempts with both the Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers.
A first-round pick in the 2002 MLB Draft out of Rancho Bernardo High School by the Phillies in the 2002 MLB Draft, Hamels would spent parts of 10 seasons in Philadelphia, going 114-90 with a 3.30 ERA and 3.47 FIP. During his nine full seasons with the Phillies, he made three All-Star Game appearances and pitched 200 or more innings on six occasions. He finished sixth or higher in NL Cy Young Award voting three times, peaking at a fifth-place finish in 2011.
Of course, Hamels’ great accomplishment as a Phillie was his dominant 2008 postseason run. Across five starts in the 2008 playoffs, Hamels went 4-0 with a 1.80 ERA. He ultimately won both the NLCS and World Series MVPs in 2008, helping to lead the Phillies to their second championship in franchise history.
Hamels was also part of two no-hitters as a Phillie. On Sept. 1, 2014, Hamels pitched the first six innings of a combined no-hitter against the Atlanta Braves that also saw Jake Diekman, Ken Giles and Jonathan Papelbon take the mound. On July 25, 2015, Hamels tossed a no-hitter at Wrigley Field against the Chicago Cubs in what turned out to be his final start as a Phillie before he was traded to the Texas Rangers.
While Hamels will almost certainly fall short of being a Hall of Famer, he’s a shoo-in to one day be placed on the Phillies Wall of Fame, along with a slew of his former teammates.
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