MrAndMrsFish Posted December 12, 2006 Share Posted December 12, 2006 BOSTON ? (AP) ? Red Sox outfielder Gabe Kapler retired Tuesday after nine major league seasons to start a managerial career with the team's Class-A farm team in Greenville, S.C., a move he hopes will lead to big league job. Kapler, who is just 31, takes over the Drive of the South Atlantic League from former major league infielder Luis Alicea, who was promoted to Boston's first-base and infield coach. "A place where I'm going to be rewarded emotionally and spiritually to have an extreme impact on somebody's life can be much more powerful than hitting a home run in a clutch situation,'' Kapler said. "It feels right inside of my body.'' He was a backup for the latter part of his career and finished with a .270 batting average with 64 homers and 302 RBIs in 850 games. Last season, he hit .254 with two homers and 12 RBIs in 72 games after recovering from a torn Achilles' tendon. He became a free agent after the season. He said he had ??ample opportunity'' to continue playing, although the last time he talked with Theo Epstein, Boston's general manager told him they would ??touch base'' later. "I'm ecstatic,'' Kapler said. "I have managerial aspirations. I have aspirations to win a World Series as a manager (but) I have to focus on what my job is now.'' Kapler, who also played with Detroit, Texas and Colorado, started the 2005 season in Japan playing for the Yomiuri Giants. They released him after he hit .153 in 38 games, and he re-signed with the Red Sox on July 15. He played 36 games for Boston that season before injuring his Achilles' on Sept. 14 while rounding second base in Toronto. He was activated last June 16 but had just 130 at-bats for Boston all season. Kapler hit a career-high .302 with Texas in 2000 then had a career-best 72 RBIs and 23 steals with the Rangers in 2001. Kapler said his agent talked with other teams about signing him as a player. "I didn't want finances to play into it,'' he said. "I made that mistake already once when I went to Japan. ... Helping other people and being a part of other peoples' lives is much more rewarding than finances.'' Kapler has been thinking of managing for many years. Now that he's made that decision, there will be times he'll think he could have continued playing. "The likelihood will be there for several years to come where I say to myself, 'I could still be playing baseball,' " he said, "but I don't think there's going to be that moment where I regret that decision.'' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eddie Altamonte Posted December 12, 2006 Share Posted December 12, 2006 I really believed there was a lot of baseball left in him...heck I wouldn't have minded having him play CF for our Marlins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Passion Posted December 13, 2006 Share Posted December 13, 2006 My favorite baseball player of all-time. I'm going to go down there this summer and hopefully get to meet him again, I've gotten his auto in person twice and I've donated to his charity for the past 2 years as well. Just a great guy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramp Posted December 13, 2006 Share Posted December 13, 2006 what a fine looking Jew good luck to him as a manager Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Accord Posted December 13, 2006 Share Posted December 13, 2006 Shalom, Gabe! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catchoftheday Posted December 13, 2006 Share Posted December 13, 2006 K-Swiss noooooooooo !!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rapp/Laettnerfanatic Posted December 13, 2006 Share Posted December 13, 2006 Why didnt this guy ever put it all together? I know back in the day he was the minor league player of the year... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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