Baseball: Yakult's former MLB outfielder Norichika Aoki to retire

The Yakult Swallows' former Major League Baseball outfielder Norichika Aoki announced Friday that he will retire at the end of the season.The 42-year-old, who has 2,723 major league hits in a career split between Japan and the United States as well as back-to-back World Baseball Classic titles with Japan in 2006 and 2009, is the oldest active position player in Nippon Professional Baseball."Not being able to show the kind of performance I expect from myself is the biggest reason," Aoki, who has batted .192 in 61 games this season and last played on Aug. 3, told a press conference."I've had …READ FULL ARTICLE