CHICAGO (AP) \u2014 Anthony Rizzo celebrated his retirement in the famed bleachers in Wrigley Field.<\/p>\n
It was quite a day.<\/p>\n
Rizzo joined the Chicago Cubs as a team ambassador on Saturday. The big first baseman threw out a ceremonial first pitch<\/a> to Cubs outfielder Ian Happ, one of his former teammates, before grabbing a seat in the bleachers in left for the team\u2019s afternoon game against Tampa Bay.<\/p>\n Rizzo, 36, nearly hauled in Mois\u00e9s Ballesteros\u2019 first career homer for Chicago in the second inning, but it went off his hands. A fan next to Rizzo retrieved the ball.<\/p>\n Rizzo, a 14-year major league veteran, said he planned to eat a hot dog, drink adult beverages and possibly throw a baseball to Happ in left field.<\/p>\n \u201cI have one day to really live it up,\u201d Rizzo said.<\/p>\n Rizzo made his major league debut with San Diego in 2011, but he rose to stardom after he was traded to Chicago in January 2012.<\/p>\n The three-time All-Star and four-time Gold Glove winner hit .272 with 242 homers and 784 RBIs in 10 years with the Cubs. He helped the team win the World Series in 2016 for the franchise\u2019s first title since 1908.<\/p>\n Rizzo was traded to the New York Yankees as part of a sell-off at the 2021 deadline.<\/p>\n Rizzo and his family were visiting Chicago for the musical festival Lollapalooza this summer when Cubs owner Tom Ricketts invited them to dinner, where they discussed the ambassador role.<\/p>\n \u201cGetting traded was just such a whirlwind, heartbreaking, so many emotions and getting to play for the Yankees was so special for me,\u201d Rizzo said. \u201cI grew up a Yankees fan.<\/p>\n \u201cTo be invited back here where I really created my legacy is very special to me and very humbling.\u201d<\/p>\n During Saturday\u2019s festivities, Rizzo, a Hodgkin lymphoma survivor and 2017 Roberto Clemente Award winner for community service, wore a Cubs jersey signed by cancer patients visited by the Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation. The foundation has raised funds for cancer research and support for patients\u2019 families.<\/p>\n \u201cGoing through the airport pretty much every time, a family comes up to us and says, \u2018You helped us here, you helped our friend here,\u2019\u201d Rizzo said. \u201cThat\u2019s such a rewarding feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n