The Great Jo-Bo Retires

by Musicdude10 on Feb 25, 2009 9:21 AM CST

Announced this morning, Joe Borowski of Cubs closer greatness, has decided to hang up the spikes. He is 38 years old and had a 12 year career with a bunch of teams, most recently the Cleveland Indians.

Here's the article on MLBTR:

MLBTR Link

You can find his career stats here

I'm kinda sad to see him go. I know he was never the most dominant pitcher but as I recall he was a good clubhouse guy and for the most part he got the job done. He gave me a few heart attacks, yes, but not as many as Latroy Hawkins, or even Dempster

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of SB Nation or Al Yellon, managing editor (unless it's a FanPost posted by Al). FanPost opinions are valued expressions of opinion by passionate and knowledgeable baseball fans.

Tweet Comment 34 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Joe Borowski...

… made a pretty good career out of modest talent. He worked hard and rode minor league buses (and Mexican League buses) for a long time.

Kudos to Lunch Bucket Joe — a genuine guy who helped the Cubs win a division title.

If only he’d been in NLCS game six when he should have been.

"That's my opinion and if you don't like it, well, I have others." ~ Groucho Marx

by Al Yellon on Feb 25, 2009 9:30 AM CST reply actions

+1

To the playoffs bit. IIRC he was warming up too. Sigh. You can always dream and say what if

"If I were playing third base and my mother were rounding third with the run that was going to beat us, I'd trip her. Oh, I'd pick her up and brush her off and say, 'Sorry, Mom,' but nobody beats me." ~ Leo Durocher

by Musicdude10 on Feb 25, 2009 9:57 AM CST up reply actions

Heck, even Clement would have been a good option.

Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true! --Homer J. Simpson

by Shanghai Badger on Feb 25, 2009 10:27 AM CST up reply actions

Dusty was saving him for Game 8

by rgonzale on Feb 25, 2009 1:23 PM CST up reply actions

+1 on your comments

He seems like a pretty “decent Joe”. The kind of player that I find it easy to root for.

Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true! --Homer J. Simpson

by Shanghai Badger on Feb 25, 2009 10:28 AM CST reply actions

Favorite Jo-Bo memory...

My wife (we were probably still dating at the time) and I were going to a game and as we approached Wrigley we were walking past the players parking lot. It was filled with shining BMWs, Hummers, and Cadillacs. Parked in between all of these was a beat up gold Honda Accord with the license plate “Joe B” and a number following. It was early in his career with the Cubs, so I am sure he upgraded vehicles at some point, but the image of that car has always come to mind whenever I think of Joe and the kind of player he was.

Way back... outta here!!!

by Chubby Hugs on Feb 25, 2009 10:33 AM CST reply actions

Good Luck

he was nothing but pure class, and was a great person. I wish him the best in retirement.

"I like coconuts, you can break them open and they smell like ladies lying in the sun" Widespread Panic

by Cubbie-Tim on Feb 25, 2009 10:38 AM CST reply actions

Borowski's injury in 2004

… is probably an under-appreciated reason the Cubs lost the wild card. I can’t imagine he would have blown as many games as Hawkins.

by elgato on Feb 25, 2009 10:41 AM CST reply actions

+1

"I got a PBS mind in an MTV world"...Jimmy Buffett

by The Ryno and I Know on Feb 25, 2009 11:16 AM CST up reply actions

131 vs. 27

That’s Borowski’s career saves total vs. Kyle Farnsworth’s. On three separate occasions, Borowski saved at least 33 games in a season. Farns only has 27 for his career. That goes to show baseball is about more than raw talent.

"The big possums walk late." - Harry Caray

by memphiscub on Feb 25, 2009 10:55 AM CST reply actions

Yep

Carlos Zambrano, take note.

Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true! --Homer J. Simpson

by Shanghai Badger on Feb 25, 2009 11:38 AM CST up reply actions

Not to take away from the point...

but the save is a meaningless statistic, and I’m sure Farns could have racked up a few given an opportunity.

Free Ronny Cedeno

by Kansas25 on Feb 25, 2009 12:10 PM CST up reply actions

Farnsworth and Borowski

I’m sure Farns could have racked a few more given he had more save opportunities. Once upon a time, Farnsworth was thought of as the Cubs closer of the future. It’s hard to believe that Borowski had so many more opportunities as a closer and was more successful than Farnsworth. Who would have thought that before 2003?

"The big possums walk late." - Harry Caray

by memphiscub on Feb 25, 2009 1:03 PM CST up reply actions

True - however

The point remains that Joe did more with less, and Farns has done little with more.

Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true! --Homer J. Simpson

by Shanghai Badger on Feb 25, 2009 1:16 PM CST up reply actions 1 recs

Definitely agree.

Free Ronny Cedeno

by Kansas25 on Feb 25, 2009 7:13 PM CST up reply actions

Love the JoBo!

Nobody can sweat through a cap quite like him.

by salparadise23 on Feb 25, 2009 11:03 AM CST reply actions

Hmmm...

….once-effective Cubs closer winds up in Cleveland where he turns in a 40+ save season. Will history repeat itself? We shall see.

G’luck, JoBo!

Happy ST Opening Day, everyone!

by daver on Feb 25, 2009 11:09 AM CST reply actions

IIRC

Every game of that season for Cleveland was on sportscenter because they had so many one run games. JoBo did a very adequate job that year. Anyone know how many he blew that year? I’m too lazy to look it up

by Musicdude10 on Feb 25, 2009 5:53 PM CST up reply actions

8 Blown Saves in 2007

Here are Borowski’s 2007 game logs. He was 4-5, saved 45, blew 8 saves, with a 5.07 ERA.

"The big possums walk late." - Harry Caray

by memphiscub on Feb 26, 2009 7:51 AM CST up reply actions

That was a bizarre season.

If you take out the two most spectacularly bad game — this blown save vs. the Yankees and this blown tie game vs. the Tigers — his 2007 ERA otherwise was 3.76, a little more manageable.

The 5.07 season ERA is the highest in baseball history for anyone who had 40 or more saves in a season. And, after all, the Tribe did make the playoffs that year.

"That's my opinion and if you don't like it, well, I have others." ~ Groucho Marx

by Al Yellon on Feb 26, 2009 8:38 AM CST up reply actions

Ha, I'd say "very adequate"...

…is the perfect description of Borowski. As Al alludes to above, some of his ’07 numbers look pretty horrendous, but he did have a 3.44 K/BB ratio, so he was missing a lot of bats.

My sig line is out for jury duty.

by daver on Feb 26, 2009 11:05 AM CST up reply actions

Many happy trails to Joe

When he was good, he was great.

One day I hope to come up with something worthy of this space.

by chilango2 on Feb 25, 2009 11:17 AM CST reply actions

Mixed feelings

I have mixed feelings regarding Joe. His was a great story, a truly feel good story. But another part of me is skeptical and wonders if it was tood good to be true. He dominated in 2002 and 2003 at a level that was suspect for his ability and then he got injured in 2004. I wouldn’t be surprised if his was amongst those 104 names…

Perhaps I’ve grown to be to be too skeptical. I don’t know. If he really did it clean then he was certainly an overachiever and his story is really a feel good one.

by Luis on Feb 25, 2009 11:20 AM CST reply actions

I agree

I too hope Joe B was clean, however this is the age of being skeptical. The guy was throwing in independent leagues in New Jersey and all of sudden he is throwing 93mph.
Prove me wrong please, because from the outside he appeared to work hard and gave everything for the Cubs.

"Have You heard of the Boom on Mizar 5?"

by Grockcubs on Feb 25, 2009 3:16 PM CST up reply actions

Carved out a nice career slinging slop

You always have to root for limited talent over-achievers like Borowski. He did more with less than just about anybody I can think in the game. Makes for a dramatic comparison to the Mark Priors of the world.

by BLou on Feb 25, 2009 11:20 AM CST reply actions

shining moment

One could say he was on the hill for the greatest moment in the last 100 yrs. when he struck out the final batter in game #5 against the Braves.

"It's a funny old world. Man's lucky if he gets out of it alive." W.C. Fields

by KedzieKid on Feb 25, 2009 11:29 AM CST reply actions

+1

That was such a great series, especially because the ’98 series against the braves was still fresh on my mind. I was pretty happy when we beat Maddux in ’03 considering he owned us in ’98

by Musicdude10 on Feb 25, 2009 5:55 PM CST up reply actions

He was the definition of gutsy

One of those guys that squeeked out a bunch of saves on not much talent. He never had a dominant out pitch. He just went in and threw it with everything he had. I echo the sentiments on 2004. It really hurt the Cubs when he was injured.

by Nibbles on Feb 25, 2009 8:41 PM CST reply actions

I always liked Borowski...

One of my favorite memories of him was when he picked off the Yankee runner at first base to end the last Cubs-Yankees interleague game in 2003. The runner just laid there pounding the base in frustration. It was great!

"Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering?"--The Brain

by brook on Feb 25, 2009 9:23 PM CST reply actions

That runner was Charles Gipson...

… who had been with the Cubs in spring training that year.

"That's my opinion and if you don't like it, well, I have others." ~ Groucho Marx

by Al Yellon on Feb 26, 2009 4:47 AM CST up reply actions

I had to look it up on Baseball Reference.com

to get the exact date, but the JoBo game I remember the most was Sunday, Aug 24, 2003. We all know how poor the Cubs’ record is here playing the D Backs in AZ. Joe came in for the save in the 9th and it was a tough one, the Snakes scored 1 in the 8th and 1 in the 9th to pull within 2. The 9th was your classic, pressure cooker, one bad pitch and the game is tied kinda game. I remember Joe sweating profusely even though the roof was closed. I was on the edge of my seat until the final out.

At that point in the season, we had just taken over first place the week before and then proceeded to lose 4 of 6 and we needed Joe to save the game and stop the bleeding.

Have a nice retirement, Joe, I always liked him.

"WGN, Channel 9 Cubs Baseball, Excitingly, Importantly, Dramatically Yours." - Jack Brickhouse

by BigJohnAZ on Feb 26, 2009 9:13 AM CST reply actions