Veteran 2B Daniel Murphy retires after 12 seasons

Veteran second baseman Daniel Murphy, who played for four teams during his 12-year major league career, retired from baseball on Tuesday.

Murphy was playing for the Los Angeles Angels' Triple-A affiliate, the Salt Lake Bees, at the time of his retirement.

In 1,452 major league games, Murphy hit .296 with 138 homers and 735 RBIs, spending time with the New York Mets (2008-15), Washington Nationals (2016-18), Chicago Cubs (2018) and Colorado Rockies (2019-20).

A three-time All-Star and two-time winner of the Silver Slugger Award, Murphy broke into the big leagues with New York. He played his first seven seasons with the Mets and eventually became a key contributor for the club.

Murphy, 38, enjoyed a breakout season in 2015, hitting .281 with 14 homers and 73 RBIs while helping guide New York to its first postseason appearance since 2006.

Murphy made a name for himself during that playoff run, hitting seven homers, including a postseason record six homers in six consecutive games. He was named National League Championship Series MVP after the Mets eliminated the Cubs in four games, but New York fell short of its first World Series title since 1986, losing in five games to the Kansas City Royals.

After his memorable postseason performance, he signed with the Nationals as a free agent. He spent parts of three seasons with Washington, including the 2016 campaign, when he hit .347 with 25 homers and 104 RBIs to finish second in NL MVP voting.

His career began to tail off after the 2017 season due to injuries. Murphy had surgery on his right knee in October of 2017 and fractured the tip of his finger in 2019. He played his final major league season in 2020 with the Rockies, hitting .236 with three homers and 16 RBIs in 40 games.