With David Ortiz playing in his final regular-season games this weekend, here’s a look at other Boston sports legends and how they fared in their final years. You’ll see a variety of outcomes from injuries to unexpected comebacks, to dramatic moments to championships.
Note: The player did not have to end his career with a Boston team to make this list.
MLB
Babe Ruth, 1935 Boston Braves
Ruth started his legendary major-league career as a 19-year-old for the Boston Red Sox and won three World Series as a pitcher, going 89-46 with a 2.19 ERA and led the American League with 11 home runs in 1918 and 29 in 1919.
He ended his career in Boston as well, but not in the best of fashions. The Yankees released him in February 1935 and he was picked up by the Boston Braves. Ruth hit .181 with six home runs in 28 games before being released. His last moment of glory came on May 25, 1935, when he hit the last three home runs of his career in a game against the Pirates.
Ted Williams, 1960 Red Sox
Williams is best remembered for hitting a home run in his final major-league at-bat on Sep. 28, 1960. But it’s worth noting that it capped off an amazing season, one in which his slashline was .316/.451/.645, with 29 home runs in only 310 at-bats, a bounceback from the previous season, in which he hit .254. The .645 slugging percentage is the best for a player’s final season (minimum 300 at-bats).
Carl Yastrzemski, 1983 Red Sox
Yastrzemski transitioned to a DH in his final five seasons, once his best days were in the past. He lasted until he was 44, playing 119 games in his final season, in which he hit .266 with 10 home runs. That season is best remembered for the final weekend, in which Yastrzemski took a victory laps around the field on each of the last two days.
Pedro Martínez, 2009 Phillies
Martinez didn’t have much left in the tank at the end of his career, but gave it a go and returned to the majors with the Phillies in mid-August. Martínez went 5-1 with a 3.63 ERA in nine starts, pitched seven scoreless innings of two-hit ball against the Dodgers in the National League Championship Series, but lost twice to the Yankees in the World Series, including in the decisive Game 6.
NBA
Bob Cousy, 1969-70 Royals
Cousy’s final season requires explanation. He originally retired after the 1962-1963 season after leading the Celtics to an NBA title. His exit was dramatic. In Game 6 of the NBA Finals, he suffered a sprained ankle in the fourth quarter, but re-entered the game to help the Celtics to the clinching win.
Seven years later, Cousy came out of retirement to play for the Cincinnati Royals, the team for whom he was head coach. He played in seven games (including one in which the Knicks made a notable last-second comeback against him/them) before halting that gimmicky comeback.
Bill Russell, 1968-69 Celtics
Russell’s final season was as a player-head coach, and at age 34, he averaged a career-low 9.9 points per game, along with 19.3 rebounds per game. The Celtics had a down season, going 48-34, but they rose to the challenge in the postseason, beating the Lakers in seven games to win the title. Russell averaged 10.8 points and 20.5 rebounds per game in the postseason. The championship was Russell’s 11th in 13 seasons. He finished fourth in MVP voting in his final season.
John Havlicek, 1977-78 Celtics
Havlicek made the last of 13 All-Star teams, averaged 16 points per game, and played in all 82 games in his final season . The aging Celtics went 32-50, down 12 wins from the previous season, their first losing season since 1969-70 (the year after Bill Russell retired).
Larry Bird, 1991-92 Celtics
Bird totaled 186 regular-season games in the final four seasons of his career as injuries took their toll, including 45 missed games in his final season, 1991-92. He did turn the clock back for one night, with a 49-point, 14-rebound, 12-assist triple-double in 54 minutes in an epic double-overtime win over the Trail Blazers.
Bird missed two months at the end of the regular season, but returned in the middle of the Celtics second-round series with the Cavaliers. He averaged 11 points, but it wasn’t enough as the Cavaliers won the series in seven games.
Kevin McHale, 1992-93 Celtics
McHale transitioned to sixth-man status in the final four seasons of his career and in his last year, he came off the bench in every game in which he played (71 of them), averaging 10.7 points and 5.0 rebounds, on 46 percent shooting (the only season in his career he show below 50 percent).
McHale’s final game was memorable … for the other team. The Hornets edged the Celtics, 104-103, winning Game 4 and the first-round series on a basket by Alonzo Mourning with 0.4 seconds left. The final play of the game was a McHale lob to Dee Brown, whose shot was blocked. McHale and the Celtics contended goaltending should have been called, but it was not.
NHL
Bobby Orr, 1978-79 Blackhawks
The end of Orr’s career is a sad story, given that he was 31 when he retired for good. Knee injuries robbed Orr of his effectiveness in the midst of arguably one of the greatest careers by a defenseman in NHL history. Orr left the Bruins after playing 10 games in the 1975-76 season and signed as a free agent with the Blackhawks (Orr’s departure from Boston was brought about by disputes escalated by his agent, who was later jailed for defrauding Orr).
Orr’s Blackhawks career lasted two seasons, played two years apart. His comeback in 1978-79 was aborted after six games in which he totaled two goals and four points. Orr made amends with the Bruins and is now a successful player agent.
Ray Bourque, 2001 Avalanche
Ray Bourque played 21 seasons with the Bruins, scoring 1,506 points and winning the Norris Trophy as the league’s top defenseman five times. But a Stanley Cup eluded him In March 2000, the rebuilding Bruins traded Bourque to the Colorado Avalanche. Bourque’s second season in Colorado was his last. He scored 59 points and was plus-25 in 80 games. The Avalanche beat the Devils in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, with Bourque playing nearly half the game (29:35) and finishing plus-2. He scored the game-winning goal in Game 3 of that series.
NFL
John Hannah, 1985 Patriots
John Hannah played in 14 of the team’s 16 games in 1985, the last season in his 13-year Patriots career. It was also arguably the most successful year in team history, one that included the team’s first AFC Championship win. Hannah was named to AP first-team All-NFL in his last year, one that ended with a 46-10 loss to the Bears in Super Bowl XX. Hannah was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1991, the first Hall of Famer ever to play his entire career in New England.
Andre Tippett, 1993 Patriots
The 1993 Patriots finished 5-11 in 21-year-old Drew Bledsoe’s rookie season (also the first for Bill Parcells as Patriots head coach). The team was a year removed from a 2-14 campaign that earned them the first overall pick in the 1993 draft, but Tippett reached a major milestone in his final career game.
In Week 17, the Patriots beat the Dolphins 33-27 in overtime, a game in which Tippett recorded 1.5 sacks. That brought his career total to 100 sacks, making him the first and still only player to reach 100 sacks in his Patriots career. Tippett was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2008.
Tedy Bruschi, 2008 Patriots
Tedy Bruschi retired after the 2008 season, the year Tom Brady was injured in the first quarter of Week 1 against the Chiefs. Bruschi had played every season with either Drew Bledsoe or Tom Brady at quarterback, though his last year included 15 starts by Matt Cassel.
Bruschi was a veteran on the defense that led New England to an 11-5 record, a year that drew comparisons to the uncertainty of Brady’s first season. But it ended just a little differently -- the 2008 Patriots carry the dubious distinction of having the most wins in NFL history by a team to not make the playoffs.
John Parolin contributed to this article.