Former Cubs 1B Anthony Rizzo celebrated at Wrigley retirement - ESPN

CHICAGO — Nearly a decade after helping the Chicago Cubs to its first World Series title in 108 years, former first baseman Anthony Rizzo returned to Wrigley Field on Saturday to officially retire from playing while being appointed an ambassador to the team. Rizzo, 36, played for the New York Yankees in the World Series last fall but mounting injuries contributed to him calling it quits this season.

«The last couple years I was banged up a little bit, but last year after breaking my arm I told my parents, I told my wife, 'hey, enjoy this ride,'» Rizzo said in a news conference on Saturday morning. «So it was in the back of my mind a little bit.… When it didn't really pick up, and the right opportunities didn't arise… it was kind of decided early on that if I didn't get the right opportunity, it was probably going to be it, and I couldn't be happier.»

Before Saturday's game against the Tampa Bay Rays, Rizzo walked the outfield with his family while being cheered by Cubs fans before the team feted him with a video montage from his playing days in Chicago. He threw out the first pitch to former teammate Ian Happ, who later acknowledged him by playing Rizzo's walk-up music before his first at-bat. Happ came up the year after the Cubs won the World Series in 2016, a lasting memory for the retiring first baseman.

«When we won, that global impact we had on a fan base on generations of Cubs fans, is still lasting,» Rizzo said. «We're almost going on 10 years and anywhere we go, you hear stories.… I thought the coolest thing getting traded (in 2021) was that first year every single stadium I went to, there was so many Cubs fans in my jersey coming to see me as a Yankee, and I'll never forget that.»

Rizzo hit 242 home runs in a