Earlier today, Jason Giambi officially announced his retirement after a roller coaster career spanning 20 seasons. The 44-year-old slugger went from a baseball star to a villain to a role model over the course of his time in the big leagues due in large part to being one of the first active players outed for using performance enhancing drugs and the seven-year, $120 million contract he signed with the New York Yankees after the 2001 season.

Here are Jason Giambi's career stats, courtesy of Baseball Reference:

A majority of those numbers, which are borderline Hall of Fame worthy had he been clean for the duration of his career, came with his rise to stardom with the Oakland A's and the first half of his stay in New York. Between 1999 and 2003, Giambi never hit less than 33 home runs or drove in under 100 runs. He finished fifth or higher in American League MVP voting three times in that span, winning the title in 2000.

All of that being said, any baseball fan who paid even moderate attention to the game in the last 20 years knows Jason Giambi's career is not only about the numbers. Even early in on his career, he wasn't strictly known as a slugger. He was known as baseball's biggest party animal. As a 2005 GQ interview points out, he used to routinely wear a shirt under his uniform that read, “Party Like a Rock Star, Hammer Like a Porn Star, Rake Like an All-Star.” His arrival in New York got off to a rocky start, but one moment in May of 2002 made him a welcome addition to the Yankees.

In the top of the 14th inning of a wild game versus the Minnesota Twins, starting pitcher Sterling Hitchcock was in the game to eat some innings and gave up three runs. With three outs to work with, the Yankees loaded the bases and Jason Giambi came to the plate.

Jason Giambi was also an unsung hero in one of the most memorable games in baseball history. Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS ended with Aaron Boone becoming an all-time Yankee hero, but it was Giambi's two solo home runs off of Pedro Martinez that kept the game as close as it could be. Because he was able to get two runs across, despite the Red Sox scoring a run in the top of the eighth inning, the Yankees were able to tie the game with a three-run rally in the bottom of the inning. That rally and the Boone walk-off home run have become two of the most highly remembered moments in Yankee history.

One December morning in 2004, the opening lines of a San Fransisco Chronicle article changed the way the public perceived Jason Giambi.

From Dec. 4, 2004:

New York Yankees star Jason Giambi told a federal grand jury that he had injected himself with human growth hormone during the 2003 baseball season and had started using steroids at least two years earlier, The Chronicle has learned. Giambi has publicly denied using performance-enhancing drugs, but his Dec. 11, 2003, testimony in the BALCO steroids case contradicts those statements, according to a transcript of the grand jury proceedings reviewed by The Chronicle.

Members of Major League Baseball and many sports publications vilified the first baseman. The combination of that, being off of performance enhancing drugs and injuries led to decreased productivity, but he did not let it end his career. He gave a vague apology for using PEDs the following spring, but it was a 2007 apology in USA Today that helped change the way the public viewed Jason Giambi yet again.

"I was wrong for doing that stuff," Giambi told USA TODAY on Wednesday before playing the Chicago White Sox. "What we should have done a long time ago was stand up — players, ownership, everybody — and said: 'We made a mistake.' "We should have apologized back then and made sure we had a rule in place and gone forward. … Steroids and all of that was a part of history. But it was a topic that everybody wanted to avoid. Nobody wanted to talk about it."

Even though he was 37 years old and on a downward spiral on the field, these words helped gain back respect in the eyes of the fans, the media and Major League Baseball. The Yankees declined Giambi's $22 million option on Nov. 4, 2008. Still looked at as a potential every day designated hitter, the Oakland A's signed him to a $4 million contract for one year. With the lowest batting average in the league in 2009, he was released in August before signing with the Colorado Rockies.

At 39 years of age and unable to perform on a daily basis, Jason Giambi could have easily retired, but his love for the game was too deep. He assumed the role of ultimate pinch hitter and unofficial hitting coach for the Rockies through 2012, forming a very strong bond with the fans, front office and his teammates.

The final chapter of Giambi's career began in the off-season following the 2012 campaign. He was a free agent yet again, but he was also a finalist for the Colorado Rockies' managerial opening. After the Rockies gave the job to Walt Weiss, they wanted to retain Jason Giambi as their hitting coach, but the Cleveland Indians ended up signing him to help boost production from the bench. In September of 2013, Giambi was still able to show up in the big moment. With playoff chances on the line, down by one run in the bottom of the 9th inning with one on and two out, he hit a walk off home run that saved the season.

Hanging on to what was left of his superstar career ended up being the best thing Jason Giambi could have done. After apologizing for his PED use and the adjustments to his game, he has become one of the most highly regarded people in the sport. He is going to be highly considered for several managerial and coaching positions in years to come, and I think I speak for most baseball fans when I say that I hope it happens sooner than later.

Jason Giambi is a success story. Millennial baseball fans watched him rise to stardom, get dragged through the mud and then become one of the most liked players in the game. He helped make baseball enjoyable in more ways than one. While an induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame is highly unlikely, his impact on the game should not be forgotten.









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