One of the Chicago Cubs' most important members of the 2016 World Series champions has hung up his cleats for the final time.
On Monday, Kyle Hendricks' retirement from MLB was reported by Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun Times.
Hendricks spent his first 11 seasons in the majors with the Cubs. He played for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in 2025.
The best season of Hendricks' career coincided with that 2016 championship.
Hendricks went 16-8 in 2016 with a league-leading 2.13 ERA.
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Overall, Hendricks started 270 games for the Cubs. He had a 3.68 ERA for Chicago in 1580.1 innings.
Hendricks was never a hard-thrower, instead holding down a role as a poor man's Maddux. He put lots of movement on his fastball and changeup, painted corners, didn't walk guys and got lots of groundball outs.
In 2025 for the Angels, Hendricks made 31 starts, went 8-10 and had a 4.76 ERA.
Hendricks followed an unusual path. He was a high school player in Mission Viejo, California who crossed the country to play college baseball at Dartmouth in the Ivy League.
The Texas Rangers drafted Hendricks in the eighth round in 2011. They traded him to the Cubs in a deal for Ryan Dempster not long after.
Hendricks made his MLB debut in July of 2014, won a ring two years later and remained a key Cubs pitcher for a decade-plus.
Now, he'll move onto the next chapter of his baseball life.
Hendricks turns 36 in December and can retire knowing he turned his crafty pitching style into an impressive MLB career.
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