Raleigh's Barreiro to Retire
<Roberto Barreiro:player#8238> is hanging up his spikes at the end of the season.


Barreiro, a 36-year-old veteran, told the <Raleigh Explorers:team#17> that he will be retiring.

"I loved playing a kid's game and getting paid well to do it. I loved the travel and the attention ballplayers get," he said. "But, what I'm really going to miss are a lot of the little things that go on behind the scenes. I'm going to miss playing on perfectly mowed grass each day. That's our stage, and a bunch of anonymous groundskeepers made that happen each week."

The native of Zapopan, Mexico showed an obvious love for the game as he reflected on the sport.

"My bat representative ... I would talk to him and next thing I'd have brand new bats. I loved the perfectly straight chalk lines, the echoes from the PA system, and even the umps."

A check of his lifetime stats shows <Barreiro:player#8238> has played in 291 games with a .229 batting average. Among his 118 hits are 31 home runs. He has also scored 62 runs and driven in 77 runs.