John Jaso, the dreaded pirate-looking dude who plays for the Pirates, told reporters yesterday he is probably calling it a career now that the season is over and his contract is up. Better yet: He’s retiring from baseball to sail the seven seas. No piracy, hopefully.
Jaso played for four teams over a nine-year major league career. He broke into the majors as a catcher with the Tampa Bay Rays, then was traded to Seattle, then Oakland, then back to Tampa. He finished as a first baseman and outfielder over two seasons with the Pirates, hitting .258 with 55 homers over his career.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Elizabeth Bloom reports that Jaso said he would travel, live on a sailboat and work to rebuild Puerto Rico.
“Traveling, living simply, being anonymous, that sort of stuff,” Jaso said of his plans. “Really I just want to live a simple life. I have a sailboat, so I just want to sail away. If you live on a sailboat, it’s really hard to live complicated. You have to keep things simple, so that’s kind of my catalyst and everything, and my ride and my home.”
Frankly, I think living on a sailboat is actually incredibly complicated as compared to living in, say, a house. But to each his own.
Per Baseball Reference, Jaso made at least $16,598,400 over his career, so that’s enough to keep his sailboat pretty well-stocked without turning to plunder.