Nearly four years after he last threw a baseball in a major league game, South Portland native Charlie Furbush announced his retirement Thursday via Twitter.
“I’ve decided to hang ’em up,” he wrote. “After countless injections, years of rehab, two rotator cuff surgeries and four anchors put into my arm, all that’s left is a crunchy shoulder that doesn’t fire like it used to.”
A left-handed pitcher for the Seattle Mariners and Detroit Tigers, the 32-year-old Furbush spent five years in the majors. He came up with Detroit, which made him a fourth-round draft pick in 2007, and reached the big leagues in 2011.
That summer, just before the trading deadline, the Tigers shipped him to Seattle in a six-player deal.
Furbush started 10 games for the Mariners before they converted him to a reliever; he became a bullpen mainstay for the next 31/2 years.
In all he appeared in 247 big league games with a 13-24 record and 3.97 ERA. Furbush had 268 strikeouts in 2602/3 career innings, walking just 89 batters.
In July 2015 he went on the disabled list with an initial diagnosis of biceps tendinitis, later discovered to be a partial tear of his rotator cuff. He never pitched in the majors again.
While in Seattle, he was active in community affairs and became the team’s union representative to the Major League Baseball Players Association. In 2015 the Mariners nominated him for MLB’s Roberto Clemente Award for community service. He is engaged to a Seattle television sportscaster, Michelle Ludtka.
Furbush didn’t respond to a request for comment. His statement on Twitter thanked his parents, his brothers, his fiancee and “all of my closest friends, former teammates and coaches who made this journey the best thing that has ever happened to me.”
Furbush played at South Portland High, St. Joseph’s College in Standish and Louisiana State, which recruited him after two successful summers in the Cape Cod League. He had Tommy John surgery on his elbow and missed his second year as a pro, in 2008.
In 2012, Furbush was one of the six Seattle pitchers who combined on a no-hitter against the Dodgers.
In 2016, he made eight minor-league rehabilitation appearances before undergoing further tests that eventually led to surgery. After a year of rehabilitation, Furbush again had surgery.
“A career-ending injury is never ideal but I’m a pitcher and that’s part of the gig,” he wrote. “I was able to play baseball my whole life and I feel so lucky to have made it as far as I did. Talk about a dream come true!”
Furbush also thanked fans for their support.
“I have nothing but amazing memories, including the plethora of hilarious nicknames I’ve earned along the way,” he wrote. “I’m looking forward to what the future holds.”
Glenn Jordan can be contacted at 791-6425 or
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