Washington Nationals fans learned today that Chad "The Chief" Cordero has retired from baseball at age 29. This is sad news to many in DC as Cordero remained a fan favorite long after he left the Nats.
The Saint Paul Saints Baseball team announced Cordero's retirement. According to the release, it sounds like he had been pitching well until the last three outings and there was concern and the decision was made to retire. Cordero had major surgery to repair a torn labrum on July 8, 2008 and had struggled since.
Cordero was drafted by the Montreal Expos in the first round (20th pick overall) of the 2003 amateur draft. He was in the bigs in no time with his Major League Debut on August 30, 2003 in Florida.
Chad Cordero moved to Washington, DC in 2005 when the franchise moved from Montreal and became the Nationals Closer. The inaugural season was a fun season for Nats fans and Cordero was thrilling to watch. Fans quickly fell in love with Cordero and didn't even seem to mind the occasional heart palpitations from a few of Chiefs' outings. He wore number 32, he was good and fans loved him.
Cordero joined Livan Hernandez as the Washington Nationals representatives at the 2005 All-Star Game. Chief led the Major Leagues with 47 saves that season and he remained pretty much unstoppable until his labrum tear in 2008. Cordero retires with 128 career saves. He was the second fastest pitcher to record 100 saves after Francisco Rodriguez (K-Rod).
Livo also went to the All-Star game for the Nats in 2005.
Thank you Anon. The post has been corrected. I remembered Livo was there too after I hit publish so thanks for the comment to remind me to change it.