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It ends. It always ends. And it almost never ends well. Sometimes it’s a travel team. Sometimes it’s a high school team. The lucky ones, they keep getting to play kids games until well into adulthood, and sometimes get paid handsomely for the privilege, but even then there is a whiff of sadness when the end inevitably arrives. 

Maybe this isn’t it for DJ LeMahieu, who on Wednesday received the most dreaded three-letter diagnosis a baseball player can get: DFA. Designated for assignment. Maybe there will be teams willing to make a deal with the Yankees in the next 10 days. Maybe they’ll wait until he becomes a free agent. 

Maybe there’s even some hits left in his bat. There already have been 1,772 of them, scattered across a 15-year career. That is tied for 431st on the all-time list, and if that doesn’t necessarily jump off the page at you, consider these two facts: 

1. The other man at 431 is Shoeless Joe Jackson.