Kotsay, Brown reflect after Tony Kemp retires: 'What a joy it was to manage him'

Tony Kemp, a fan favorite throughout every stop in his Major League journey, is calling it a career.

Kemp, 33, announced his retirement on Thursday through social media after nine seasons in the big leagues that saw him play four seasons each with the Astros and Athletics, as well as a half-season stint with the Cubs and a final season in 2024 with the Orioles.

In an Instagram post, Kemp wrote: "Thank you God, for allowing me to be a Major League Baseball player. After 12 years of professional baseball and 9 seasons in the Big Leagues, I've decided to hang up the spikes.

"First, I want to thank my Mom and Dad for driving me all over the country to play in every tournament I could. You guys were always prepared with a cooler that was equipped with sandwiches, snacks, gatorades, and most importantly, a wet towel to keep me cool during those hot summer days on the diamond. The sacrifices you two made allowed me to reach my childhood dream of becoming a 'Big Leaguer' and I can't thank you enough. I love you both very much."

A’s manager Mark Kotsay, who was on the team’s coaching staff for all four of Kemp’s seasons with the organization -- including the last two as manager -- lit up as he talked about his former player.

“What a joy to have managed him, been a part of his career,” Kotsay said. “The personality, obviously, speaks for itself. Just a fun-loving, great teammate. Great leader while he was here with the group. Those are the memories that I have, just the smile, constantly. And then the plays. Some of the plays he made stand out, for sure.”

Regardless of the uniform he donned, Kemp, originally drafted by Houston in the fifth round of the 2013 MLB Draft out of Vanderbilt, endeared himself to every fan base he played for with his entertaining and all-hustle style of play. The undersized 5-foot-6, 160-pound utility man had a penchant for making spectacular plays on defense, leading to quite the extensive package of highlight-reel plays over his Major League tenure.

Kemp’s most productive season came in 2021 with the A’s. He hit .279 with an .800 OPS, eight home runs, 16 doubles and 37 RBIs, performing as a 3.3 bWAR player for an A’s squad that fell just short of the playoffs. For his career, Kemp appeared in 739 Major League games and finished with a .237 batting average.

"Tony is one of the good ones, man. He’s one of the best teammates I’ve ever had,” said A’s veteran Seth Brown, who was Kemp’s teammate for his entire tenure with the team.

“I think just my favorite memory overall with Tony is just having him around in the cage all the time, watching him do his thing. Obviously his family is incredible, too. I was just lucky to call him a teammate … He had an incredible career, and I’m just so happy that this game blessed him the way it did.”

Perhaps even greater than Kemp's impact on the diamond was his charitable efforts. From 2020-23, Kemp was the A’s nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award for four consecutive seasons.

From raising awareness for preventable and curable blindness throughout under-resourced communities with HCP Cureblindness to being a player ambassador for Players for the Planet, to his creation of “THE +1 EFFECT” to battle against racial and social injustice, Kemp served as an example to his teammates of how they can utilize their wide-ranging platform to make an impact off the field.