CHICAGO — When Anthony Rizzo steps out of the shower now, he has an instant reminder he’s no longer in “The Show.”
“The one thing I missed single-handedly is using multiple towels after I shower,” Rizzo joked at his retirement press conference on Saturday afternoon at Wrigley Field. “It’s single-handedly the biggest adjustment you have to make after the season is getting going back down to one towel.”
[WATCH: Anthony Rizzo almost catches home-run ball in Wrigley Field bleachers]
“He told me yesterday he’s gonna be heckling me real good.”
Ian Happ is excited to see Anthony Rizzo in the bleachers today 😁 pic.twitter.com/gNcu48uRmM
— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) September 13, 2025
It is nice to be a big leaguer.
But in all seriousness, what Rizzo will yearn for most is the relationships that come with the grind of the 162-game season. It’s what makes the marathon of a season so worth it. Through the ups and downs, the group of players is together grinding through it and trying to win a championship.
“I miss the guys,” Rizzo said. “I miss the struggle with the guys, because the ups and downs are great, but I miss the camaraderie.”
He won’t, though, miss the hardest part of the game: trying to hit that pearly white ball.
Rizzo spent 2024 with the New York Yankees, making it all the way to the World Series with them and isn’t far removed from the game. But hitting is still incredibly hard, and sitting at home watching pitchers this year reaffirms his decision to hang up his spikes.
“I figure I can literally get away with anything today … The beer snake is definitely gonna happen, I don’t know if that’s legal here anymore.”
Anthony Rizzo is going to start the cup snake in the bleachers 😂 pic.twitter.com/DaB58H9zdo
— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) September 13, 2025
“Watching on TV, the game looks harder, doesn’t look easier,” Rizzo said. “I don’t know how people think it looks easier from TV, because I guess I just I’m so fresh removed. I know how hard it is to hit 100 [mph] and seeing guys throw that hard with those stuff they have, it’s nice knowing that I [don’t] have to hit that anymore, and I get to just wake up and do whatever I want.
“So it’s a beautiful feeling.”
Going through the 2024 campaign with the Yankees, Rizzo had an inkling the end was near. He suffered a broken arm that limited him to just 92 games. During that injury, he thought it could be his last go-around.
“After breaking my arm, I told my parents, I told [wife] Emily, ‘Hey, enjoy this ride. I don’t know how much longer [it’s going to be],” Rizzo said.
[MORE: Anthony Rizzo shares message to Cubs fans in return to Wrigley Field]
Rizzo had a club option with the Yankees for 2025, but they declined it, despite him hitting .267 with a .721 OPS in the ALCS and the World Series. He had a broken knuckle in the offseason and knew he couldn’t ramp up preparation for 2025 until about the middle of February, when spring training kicks off. And he didn’t want to come back just to say he did. This was a player who had played for two premier franchises in his prime.
So, when the perfect situation didn’t materialize, he was at peace with his decision to retire.
“When it didn’t really pick up and the right opportunities didn’t arise, there’s just another week of delaying baseball stuff, another week I was still working out,” Rizzo said. “It was kind of decided early on that if I didn’t get the right opportunity, it was probably going to be it, and I couldn’t be happier.”