The Dodgers recently declined to pick up the option they had on the long-time catcher. From AP-

LOS ANGELES — Catcher Mike Lieberthal has decided to retire after a 14-year big league career with the Phillies and Dodgers.

“I’m done,” Lieberthal said on Saturday. “I decided a couple weeks after the season ended. If [the Dodgers] had picked up my option, I probably would have played one more year. But I didn’t want to go anywhere else.”

The 36-year-old Lieberthal, who grew up in nearby Westlake Village, played his first 13 seasons with Philadelphia before signing with the Dodgers last winter. He hit .274 with 150 homers and played in two All-Star games.

The Dodgers declined the option they had on Lieberthal for the upcoming season. Lieberthal played in 38 games last season as a backup to Russell Martin, hitting .234 in 77 at-bats.

Mike was a good ML catcher for over 10 years. My best memory of him isn’t related to the real game, but to the Strat-O-Matic tournaments I used to play in. His home run for me at the 2024 Worlds in a must win game allowed me to make it to that year’s Quarter-finals. Thanks for getting me there Mike, and good luck in retirement.

He is charged with killing a woman in Broward County Florida.

FORT LAUDERDALE - Jim Leyritz, the former Major League Baseball player known as “The King,” was arrested and charged with DUI manslaughter Friday morning following an accident that killed another driver, police said.

Leyritz, 44, was traveling north-bound on Southwest Seventh Avenue when he passed a red light and crashed with another car around 3:30 a.m., said Fort Lauderdale police spokeswoman Kathy Collins.

The accident happened at the intersection of Southwest Second Street and Seventh Avenue. A 30-year-old woman traveling west-bound on Second Street was ejected from her car, Collins said.

She was pronounced dead at Broward General Medical Center.

Leyritz was charged with manslaughter and DUI property damage after an investigation, Collins said.

Leyritz played with the New York Yankees in the ’90s, earning his nickname after htting the last home run in Game 4 of the 1999 World Series.

If found guilty and sent to jail, it will be a shame will Leyritz’s famous homer gets bloted out by one foolish night of excess