Jason Varitek announced his retirement from playing baseball in March 2012. He holds a unique place in baseball lore due to the accomplishments teams he played on at every level. In 1984 his little league team from Altamonte Springs, Florida played in the Little League World Series championship game losing to South Korea. In 1990 Lake Brantley High School in Altamonte Springs won the state championship his senior year. In 1994 while playing for Georgia Tech his team played in the College World Series Championship game losing to Oklahoma. He played on two World Series championship teams with the Boston Red Sox in 2004 and 2007. That allowed Varitek to join Ed Vosberg as the only two players to ever play in the Little League World Series championship game, the College World Series Championship game and the Major League World Series. Add to that Varitek played baseball for the U.S Olympic team in 1992 which finished fourth and played in the World Baseball Classic in 2006.
Varitek was originally drafted by the Seattle Mariners with the 14th pick of the first round in 1994. He was traded to the Red Sox in July 1997 and played his first Major League game later that season. The catcher played his entire 15 season MLB career with the Red Sox and served as team captain from 2005 to 2011. For his career he hit .256/.341/.435 with 193 home runs, 757 RBI, 664 runs and 25 steals in 1546 games. He threw out 23% of the runners that attempted to steal. He played on three All Star teams in 2003, 2005 and 2008. Varitek is the only catcher in MLB history to catch four no hitters.
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