CHICAGO -- Greg Luzinski, one of major league baseball's most feared sluggers for more than a decade, is retiring to become freshman baseball coach at a New Jersey high school.
'After playing for 14 years, he has decided he'd like to spend more time with his family and pursue other interests,' agent Jack Sands of the Boston-based Sports Advisory Group Inc. said Tuesday in a telephone interview.
Luzinski, 34, who became a free agent last November after four seasons as the Chicago White Sox's designated hitter, had been selected by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the free-agent draft and invited to the Baltimore Orioles spring training camp.
But Luzinski opted for retirement based on family considerations and the fact that he will receive $200,000 a year for the rest of his life through investments.
'He will be able to earn close to $200,000 a year for the rest of his life,' Sands said. 'Therefore, the financial need to continue playing was not there.
'Greg made this decision yesterday and felt that he has accomplished everything in his career that he sought out to. He played on a World Series championship team in Philadelphia, he played in many All-Star games and he helped two organizations in Philadelphia and Chicago go from last-place clubs to champions in their divisions.'
Luzinski, who lives with his wife and two children in Medford, N.J., will become a freshman baseball coach at Holy Cross High School in Delran, N.J.
He also will be involved with the White Sox over the next 10 years as a 'consultant.' Exact details of the post-career clause in Luzinski's contract with the White Sox have not yet been worked out, Sands said.
Sox board chairman Jerry Reinsdorf said he was 'saddened' by Luzinski's decision to retire but agreed it was probably the right move.
'It's sort of sad to see someone as important a part of our franchise retiring,' Reinsdorf said. 'When he and Carlton Fisk came to us in 1981, it symbolized a beginning of a new era, a commitment of trying to win.'
Reinsdorf said the Sox didn't offer Luzinski a contract but 'we didn't refuse to, either. He just decided he wanted to talk to others.'
'The Bull' ends his professional baseball career with a lifetime batting average of .276, 307 home runs and 1,128 runs batted in. Last season, he batted .238 with 13 homers and 58 RBI.
