Former World Series MVP Announces Retirement 4 Years After His Final Game

As it happened, the 2008 postseason was a coming-out party for Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels. In only his second full season in the major leagues, the left-hander won the MVP award in both the National League Championship and World Series, leading the Phillies to their first crown since 1980.

The career of Hamels peaked so high and so early, that it perhaps came as a surprise to some when he announced his retirement Friday in a special ceremony in Philadelphia.

Hamels had not thrown a pitch in the majors in four years. Although he attempted to return with the Los Angeles Dodgers and his hometown San Diego Padres in 2023, injuries prevented either comeback from happening. The Padres placed Hamels on the voluntarily retired list on Aug. 4, 2023.

Friday’s ceremony was more, well, ceremonial. But it was an important one for a franchise icon to observe in the city where he got his start.

“This was perfect right here,” Hamels told MLB.com. “It’s going to take a while for me to really digest and understand what just happened.”

As part of the ceremony, the Phillies presented Hamels with the pitching rubber and the original lineup card from his July 25, 2015 no-hitter at Wrigley Field. That would prove to be Hamels’ 308th and final career appearance in a Philadelphia uniform.

Six days later, Hamels was traded to the Texas Rangers, along with Jake Diekman and cash, for six players. Hamels, 31, would go 7-1 with a 3.66 ERA in 12 starts for the Rangers down the stretch that season, while the Phillies embarked on a franchise rebuild that would not come to fruition for another seven years.

Hamels would make another 116 starts with the Rangers, Chicago Cubs, and Atlanta Braves from 2016-20, making one All-Star team and appearing in two postseason games.

Until the end of his career, Hamels remained most closely associated with the Phillies. In parts of 10 seasons (2006-15), he went 114-90 in Philadelphia with a 3.30 ERA, made three NL All-Star teams, and collected Cy Young Award votes in four different seasons.

Hamels’ postseason heroics were instrumental to the 2008 Phillies’ World Series run. He beat the Dodgers twice in that year’s NLCS and beat the Tampa Bay Rays once in the World Series. In five starts that October, he allowed a total of seven runs.

Friday, some of Hamels’ former teammates were in attendance at Citizens Bank Park — including former Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz, who caught Hamels’ 2015 no-hitter — to mark the end of a storied career.