Subsequent to playing portions of 13 seasons in the majors and burning through 16 as a mentor with the Rays during a 43-year by and large career in baseball, Tom Foley has chosen to retire.
“It’s time,” Foley said Thursday. “It’s just time to slow down and relax.”
Foley, 60, joined up with the new Rays establishment in 1996 out of a player advancement role, took over as third base mentor in 2002 and worked under supervisors Hal McRae, Lou Piniella and Joe Maddon during a 13-year run, at that point moved to seat mentor when Kevin Cash took over as chief in 2015 preceding moving to an extraordinary aide work after the 2017 season. His most recent agreement expired Thursday.
“This decision has nothing to do with the Rays. I loved my job, I really did,” Foley said. “I just wanted to slow down a little bit. There were some other things that transpired last year off the field (with friends and relatives health-wise), and I just started thinking about it. It’s time for me to kick back and watch. …
“Obviously I’ll spend a lot more time with the family than I have the last 40-plus years, which I’m looking forward to. We’ve got three grandkids around here. We want to do some traveling. I’ll going to do some fishing, and some golfing.”
Foley played with the Reds, Phillies, Expos and Pirates generally as a hold infielder, ordering a .244 profession normal. His best season was likely 1987 in Montreal, when he hit .293 with five homers, 28 RBIs and a .754 OPS in 106 games. “I don’t remember myself as a player,” he kidded. “Sometimes I don’t want to remember myself as a player”
Progressively huge, he stated, was the time he gone through with the Rays.
“It’s the right time for me; I know it is,” he stated, from his Oldsmar home. “Am I going to miss it? Yeah, of course. Of course you’re going to miss it. If anything, I’m going to miss the people in the organization. It’s been great. To be there from the start of this organization to now be retiring, I’ve seen a lot. I’ve seen it grow. A lot of good people have come and gone. When I started I had no idea what it was going to grow into. But it’s time for me to be a fan now. A big fan of the Rays.”
