Chicago Cubs David Ross Retires at 39 with a Bang; Ends Career in Time as Cubs Won 2016 World Series

When David Ross started out his career in the Major Leagues as a rookie catcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers 14 years ago, he didn't know where or how far his job would take him. All the 25-year-old Ross planned for was to stay in the big leagues long enough to make a mark.

Little did Ross know that he would end his 14-year career with a big bang when he was called to enter the game for the Chicago Cubs in the 5^th inning of Game 7 of the 2016 World Series against the Cleveland Indians. The Chicago Cubs were seeking to end a 108-year championship drought by winning the 2016 World Series while the Indians were trying to get their first title in 68 years.

And go out in style he did as Ross played in a historic game that saw the Chicago Cubs winning against the Indians and ending their dry spell. Now, at age 39, "Grandpa Rossy," as the team would call him, has played his major league of a lifetime.

Looking back at a storied career, David Ross played for 21 professional baseball teams that took him from Sarasota to Chattanooga to San Diego and to many stops in between. To put things in perspective, superstar and baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. played for only one major league team, the Baltimore Orioles, and also on four of its minor league affiliates.

David Ross, on the other hand, rode buses in the minor leagues even at age 36. In all, David Ross played more than a third of his professional games at the minor league level.

Joking about Ross before their Game 7 performance, Anthony Rizzo, the 27-year-old first baseman of the Cubs, said, "I don't know if the old man can take it much longer." Well, little did Rizzo know how accurate his statements would be.

David Ross dealt with it in the end. Fifteen seasons in the majors, including a championship run with the Boston Red Sox in 2013, taught him how to deal with anything.

"When we set out on this journey, I would have liked to have swept them in four," Ross said of the Indians before Game 7. "But being that it's come down to this, you look back. This is kind of fitting for these two franchises to come down to. It is storybook. They will make movies about this one day."

No doubt they will.