Derek Jeter announced on Facebook today that he's going to play one more season and call it quits. "And the thing is, I could not be more sure," he writes. "I know it in my heart. The 2014 season will be my last year playing professional baseball." Jeter turns 40 in June and has been the Yankees' starting shortstop since 1996 and captain since 2003, notes the Daily News. (The newspaper calls him "one of the most iconic players in franchise history.") The news follows last year's retirements of Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte.
“Last year was a tough one for me,” Jeter writes. “As I suffered through a bunch of injuries, I realized that some of the things that always came easily to me and were always fun had started to become a struggle. The one thing I always said to myself was that when baseball started to feel more like a job, it would be time to move forward." (More Derek Jeter stories.)