Larry Parrish Calls End to Baseball Career

Larry Parrish called it a career 25 games early.

The 36-year old Parrish, who had 15 seasons in the majors before playing in Japan, told the Hanshin Tigers he is returning to the United States for treatment of a chronic knee injury.

“I was planning on retiring at the end of this year anyway,” Parrish said today.

Parrish, the leading home-run hitter in Japan’s Central League last season with 42, leads the league this year with 28.

He played in the majors with the Montreal Expos, the Texas Rangers and Boston Red Sox. In the majors, he hit 256 home runs, drove in 992 runs and had a career average of .263. His best years came in 1979 with Montreal, when he batted .307. hit 30 homers and had 82 RBIs, and in 1984 with Texas when he hit .285 with 22 homers and 101 RBIs.