Can-Am Brockton Rox

Bustos leaves the game an All-Star

by Melissa Chodan
Published on July 21, 2005 under Canadian American League (Can-Am)
Brockton Rox


Brockton Rox shortstop Saul Bustos played in what will likely be his last game as a professional ball player at Tuesday's All-Star Game.

The perennial All-Star led a successful campaign that spanned parts of 12 seasons where he played in various minor and independent leagues across the country and has decided to retire while still in the prime of his career.

Bustos, 32, went 0-for-2 with a walk in his last appearance at Campanelli Stadium, the home of the Rox and site of the 2005 All-Star, where Bustos' Can-Am League defeated the Central League 3-2.

"It's a good feeling," Bustos said prior to the game. "I was going to leave before (the All-Star game) but I might as well leave on a good note and being an All-Star for Brockton and playing at Brockton will be good for the fans."

The 2005 season has been Bustos' most productive in recent years. In 49 games, he is third in the league in batting average, hitting a solid .364 with six stolen bases and 22 RBI.

Bustos has been with the Rox since the team's inception in 2002 and has been a fan favorite ever since. During his time with the team, Bustos hit .290 and holds most of the Rox's single season and career club records.

This will be Bustos' second attempt at retirement. He initially retired after the 2001 All-Star Game when he played for Greenville of the Texas-Louisiana League.

But Bustos said that this past All-Star game will truly be his final goodbye as he plans to return to his home in Lubbock Texas where he runs Hitters Row Academy, a softball and baseball training center.

"This one's for real," Bustos said. "I have to go back home and take care of my baseball academy, take care of my family and have a future to go after as far as financial stability and a steady life."

Bustos opened the facility prior to the 2004 season. The academy offers private hitting and pitching lessons taught by former and current professional baseball players as well as rentable batting cages and throwing facilities.

He left for Brockton shortly after Hitters Row opened last season. Bustos said doing so put his business in jeopardy and he now feels his academy must be his first priority as his overhead continues to grow.

He also feels he has proven himself as a baseball player with a solid career. Bustos claims numerous All-Star appearances and a championship from his 1998 stint with the New Jersey Jackals and feels he is at a place in his life where he can walk away from playing the game in order to teach the players of the future, at least temporarily.

"I came to play baseball because I love it," Bustos said. "I love to play it and I always said I'd play it as long as I can and I think right now I just have to cut it off. If I ever had the opportunity to come back and it was a wise decision and it was a smart one I would come back, if everything fell into the right place."

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Canadian American League Stories from July 21, 2005


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