It’s really something to see a true one-of-one. The first time it really stuck, it really happened to me, was Usain Bolt in 2008 in Beijing. With all due respect to what Michael Phelps did in those Olympics, there’s something primal about the 100m dash, something we’ve been doing as a species since Urk bragged to Gru he could get to that rock over there first. It was quite something for 14-year-old Joshua to see the seven fastest men in the world three steps behind this freak — and I say that with
the utmost admiration.
Of course Bolt did that two more times in those Games, then broke his own record at the World Championships in Berlin a year later—still the fastest time ever recorded—and then in London, and just for good measure took home the gold in the 100m and 200m in Rio in 2016. The greatest sprinter of all time and a 100th-percentile outcome for what the human body can be. Bolt went out with a whimper though, pulling up lame in the 4x100m relay final at the 2017 World Championships. A hamstring injury mid-race spelled the end of one of sports’ great, fiery comets.
You almost never get to go out on your own terms, especially in athletics. Eventually, your body—the thing that earned you a living, the thing that elevated you over pretty much the entire global population—lets you down. Giancarlo Stanton is also a true one-of-one. You could make a compelling argument that nobody in the history of baseball has boasted his raw power. Perhaps nobody in the sport has ever had so many home runs where the defenders simply didn’t move upon contact:
And of course, like A-Rod in 2009, there’s a very good chance the Yankees don’t even make the World Series in ‘24 if Stanton doesn’t hammer the ball like he can. Cleveland in particular had no answer whatsoever to the ALCS MVP, who showered Guardians pitching with four clutch homers. He had a 1.048 OPS that postseason and likely walks away with 18 career playoff homers and a .926 OPS in 202 plate appearances.
And as ever, you almost never get to go out on your own terms. Giancarlo Stanton was last on an MLB field on April 24th, and a couple calf strains later—most recently this week—his 2026 season is likely over. With labor unrest on the horizon, and just one guaranteed year left on his massive contract, you wouldn’t be in the wrong to assume Stanton’s career is effectively over. Yes, the Yankees may keep him around because it’s just one year, the Marlins are kicking in some cash, there’s probably insurance on the contract, maybe he plays a bit next year and is on one of his now-legendary heaters … but the news coming down yesterday felt like a coup de grâce.
For all his power and all his talent, Stanton always felt a little out of place — perhaps partially because of that one-of-a-kind power tool. His 13-year, $325 million contract was always real money but also always seen as “someone else’s problem,” with few in the industry thinking the Marlins, particularly the Jeffrey Loria Marlins, were going to keep him through the length of the deal. When he came to the Yankees as the reigning NL MVP after the glorious ride that was 2017, it felt like a near-coronation that the Baby Bombers were going to run the table in the AL for the foreseeable future.
Instead, he had a strong season even as the promised Twin Terrors of he and Aaron Judge didn’t quite take off in the way we thought. From there on, we were penciling in IL time every year. Even as Stanton slugged through Octobers, he was always great but not always on the field. The last two seasons have been particularly challenging, if Big G doesn’t play again this year that’ll be a combined 101 appearances since the start of 2025. He’s been quite productive in those 101 games, two full wins which is quite something for an all-stick, no legs DH. Playing in just 31 percent of team games, as ever, is the catch.
If this is the end for Stanton, not only do we close a chapter of Yankee history; nearly a decade with MVP-caliber bats ostensibly in the middle of the order, but we likely see the end of what was an outside shot at the Hall of Fame. So much of Stanton’s case was going to be how close he could get to 500 home runs. He sits at 456 at press time, if he wants to hang around the league I’m sure some team will sign him on the cheap — he’ll get every penny of that $325 mil no matter what the Yankees decide to do — and try and capitalize on the chase.
Stanton will also be 37 next Opening Day, with a persistent problem in his lower half. At the start of the year he had two skills, hit the ball hard and jog softly around the bases. We don’t know if that skillset has been reduced to just a single one. Remember, the initial calf injury popped up when he was simply moving to second base on a walk.
Maybe this World Series homer sums up Stanton’s time in the Bronx. It was huge! It was important! It came in one of the most crushing losses in recent club history.
If this is it, thanks for everything Giancarlo. We will likely never see pop like yours again.
