Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley retiring from Red Sox broadcast booth at end of season

"Eck" told Chad Finn of the Boston Globe that he and his wife, Jennifer, will be moving back to his native California to spend more time with his two grandchildren. 

The 67-year-old crafted a 24-year, Hall-of-Fame career from 1975 to 1998, spending the first half of his MLB days as a starter before becoming one of the most dominant closers in league history.

"I’ve been thinking about this for a long time. I really have," Eckersley said, per Finn. "Not that it matters, but it’s kind of a round number, leaving. I started in pro ball in ‘72, when I was a 17-year-old kid right out of high school. Fifty years ago. And I’ve been with NESN for 20 years, even though it doesn’t feel like that because I didn’t do much my first four or five years. So it’s time."

Eckersley has worked for the New England Sports Network (NESN) since 2003.

"There are times in your life when you realize you’ve got to get on with it," the 1992 AL Cy Young and MVP said. "Having grandkids in the Bay Area and visiting them in the offseason, that pushed me along. I just knew, you need to go and be with the kids. Those formative years, you need to be there."

The righty pitched for the Cleveland then-Indians from 1975 to 1977 and then for the Red Sox from 1978 to 1984. Eckersley suited up for the Chicago Cubs from 1984 to 1986 and then the Oakland Athletics from 1987 to 1994 (where he made four of his six All-Star teams), before concluding his career with the St. Louis Cardinals (1996, 1997) and back with Boston in 1998.