As Charlie Culberson walked out of the Braves’ spring training facility in North Port, Florida, in late March, he knew it would be the last time. The last time he would leave the complex. The last time he would leave a ballpark as a professional baseball player.
This was the end.
And as Culberson exited the facility, he felt at peace. He had accepted this.
“It wasn’t relief because I knew, physically, I was still able to do what I was doing for so long,” Culberson told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in a phone interview. “I was just thinking to myself, like, dang, I really tried really hard, especially at a position transition at the end of my career. I had a lot of fun with it. It never felt easy, but I was always excited to do it.
“But I knew there was no regret. I kept playing, I kept trying, I gave it my best. Physically, I was able to do it. That was probably the coolest thing, I guess, is that I didn’t leave any regret on the table. I kind of exhausted all options of me continuing my baseball career.”
Culberson, a Calhoun High alum who played for the Braves, announced his retirement from baseball Thursday. Culberson, selected by San Francisco with the No. 51 overall pick of the 2007 MLB draft, played for the Giants, Rockies, Dodgers, Braves and Rangers during a career that spanned parts of 11 major-league seasons. Culberson was a utility infielder for the Braves from 2018-20, then again for a stint in 2023.
On Wednesday, before he officially announced his retirement, he spoke to the AJC about his decision. “Yeah, I believe so,” he said when asked if it had set in yet. He knew months ago that he was done playing. His final act: Trying to transition to pitching full-time during minor-league spring training.
While the Braves and other teams have played, Culberson has spent quality time with his wife, Sarah, and their three kids: 12-year-old Collins, 9-year-old Ace, 7-year-old Everly. He’s gone on family trips, and attended school events and sporting events. He’ll check in on his friends in the game every so often, but he’s been unplugged – so much so that he said it’s crazy to look up and see less than two weeks remain in the regular season.
He didn’t seem bitter or upset about retirement. The opposite, actually. He’s filled with gratitude. He’s accepted this outcome. He feels good about how much he put into baseball, even during the twilight of his career.
“Once I made that switch to (pitching) and then the Braves were like, ‘Hey it’s not gonna work out,’ I told myself, ‘I’m done working out and trying to continue to play,’” Culberson said. “And I was fine with it. It took a little while to get over the fact of, I guess people not believing in me as a player anymore. But after a while, that kind of fades away and I realized that I’m where I need to be. Looking back on my career, it was like, ‘Hey, I tried my best, so I’m good with it.’”
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Culberson hit .248 over his big-league career. With the Braves, he batted .267 with a .771 OPS – by far his best numbers with any team. Culberson still remembers Alex Anthopoulos, who had just taken the job leading the Braves’ baseball operations, calling him to welcome him to Atlanta after the club acquired him in a trade that sent Matt Kemp to the Dodgers.
Though he wasn’t a star player, Culberson was known for the clutch moments he had for the Braves. One of them: With the bases loaded, he caught a fly ball to left field and, as he drifted to his left, he somehow fired a dart to home plate to nab the runner for a double play.
His time with the Braves means a lot to him.
“This is home for us,” Culberson, born in Rome, said. “We live pretty close to the stadium. And just to be able to go outside and go to the grocery store, and just do little things here and there out and about, I still see people that stop me and say, ‘Hey, you’re Charlie Clutch. I remember the time when you threw the guy out from left field. I was sitting in my living room.’ Or one person said they were riding by the stadium at that moment and the stadium erupted and they felt their car shake. So it’s pretty cool to hear moments that fans had of times I was a player.”
Credit: Hyosub Shin
Credit: Hyosub Shin
Ahead of the 2020 season, the Braves signed Culberson to a minor-league deal. The Rangers signed him to one before 2021, and then again before 2022. The Rays signed him to a minor-league deal for 2023, but he wasn’t going to make the team out of spring, so the Braves signed him to a minor-league deal.
In a way, Culberson saw the writing on the wall. He knew the end could be near.
“I think it’s just tough for anybody to know that they’ve done something for so long, and not everyone’s gonna be the best at what they do,” he said. “There’s only a handful of men and women that are just the elite in their business, in their profession. And then there’s everybody else. And I feel like I was in that space of baseball players, where I was hanging on, kind of grinded through my career, ups and downs.”
But this leads us into what Culberson is most proud of in his career: The grind and how he stuck with it. He tried to keep playing for as long as he could – and even switched to pitching.
In 2015, he had surgery to repair a herniated disc in his back. At that point, he began thinking about what could be next because he didn’t know if any team would want him after that.
But he kept going.
And kept going.
And kept going.
Along the way, he learned lessons. One came with the Rockies in 2014, when he constantly looked over his shoulder for fear he’d be sent down because he had minor-league options. He would walk into the clubhouse on a given day thinking he could be optioned. He stayed in the majors for most of that season, but wasn’t comfortable.
“And that’s OK to not be comfortable because then it allows you to keep working and keep improving to stay,” Culberson said. “But if I would’ve just told myself, ‘You know what Charlie, you’re a big leaguer, you belong’ – and telling yourself that you belong. Once you start doubting yourself and think that you can’t do it, then you’ve gotta change something up. And I feel like it took me a while to know and to tell myself that I did belong. And once I was able to say that, I was able to relax more, I was able to prepare better. Even though I felt like I was a good teammate, I felt like I was able to be a better teammate, a better person to everyone around me when I had that mentality. Just to be relaxed, just to be free.”
How does he want fans to remember him?
“I want them to understand, for me and my career, yes it was so up and down, but I want people to have seen somewhat of the consistency that I brought to my work and to my craft every day,” Culberson said. “We all see results, we all see a box score. That’s what a lot of people look at. I feel like most people look at those things first. But visually, physically seeing me, I tried my best to be as consistent as possible.
“Whether I was gonna get a chance to play and do well, or play and not do well, or not play at all, I wanted to be the same person every single day. Because I feel like I knew that I wasn’t gonna play baseball for the rest of my life, but I knew that if I could keep a great positive mind every single day with what I was doing, that’s gonna lead me further in life and help me each and every day, and ultimately be able to help those around me.”
Now, he’ll look to make an impact in his next stage of life. What could he do? Well, he’s thought about it ever since that injury in 2015. He’s pondered it more while not playing this year.
“Being able to be at home, I’ve realized – and I’ve known this for a long time – being around them is the best thing I could be doing,” Culberson said. “But I do know that dad still needs to go out and work, and work hard to show my kids that I’m still capable of helping other people and doing something that is different than just playing baseball.”
Culberson has thought about coaching, but doesn’t know if it’s the correct fit yet. He would love to do broadcasting. It would allow him to stay close to the game and those in it while providing him and his family with flexibility. He has played baseball, but he laughs when he tells people that he’s also watched plenty of it. He thinks that’ll serve him well in broadcasting.
Asked what advice he would give a high school baseball player hoping to make it to the majors, just as he was all those years ago, Culberson mentions the fun of playing high school ball. Teaming up with buddies. Going on the bus rides together. Playing for fun and not for money.
His message: Try to enjoy those moments, because time flies.
He would know. As he says this, he’s no longer a professional ballplayer.
“Over 17 years ago, I was drafted, and now I’m not playing anymore,” he said. “When I left the park for the last time, I definitely got emotional because I knew that moment was coming. When I left the Braves spring training complex that last day, I knew that I was done. I knew that I had tried everything I could, and it wasn’t because I was upset with myself. I was definitely grateful for everything that happened, so it was almost, like, happy tears.
“But it is kind of crazy to know that, man, playing a game like this for so long was so much fun, but it comes to an end. So just enjoy getting better, enjoy practice, enjoy the grind of working on your swing or being one percent better each day, because that’ll lead us to bigger and better things down the road.”
