Former MLB star Anthony Rizzo is staying fit in retirement by gearing up to run a marathon — but his training is “slow and steady.”
“It’s not easy,” Rizzo, 36, told Us Weekly exclusively ahead of the 2026 Home Run Derby at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia on Monday, July 13. “Hardest thing I’ll probably ever do in my life.”
Rizzo explained that his history as a professional athlete is, surprisingly, making training “harder” for him.
“I’ve already used all my mental fortitude in baseball. Overcoming the adversities of baseball,” he quipped. “Now, this … it’s hard. Hopefully, come race day, it’ll be a little more enjoyable.”
Rizzo retired from the MLB in September 2025 after 14 years playing professional baseball. He returned to Wrigley Field in Chicago to retire as part of the Cubs organization, where he played from 2012 to 2021 before joining the New York Yankees.
Rizzo was part of the Cubs roster that made history in 2016 by beating the Cleveland Guardians (the Cleveland Indians at the time) to win the World Series, breaking the longest championship drought in North American professional sports history, lasting 108 years. (The 2016 World Series win also broke an alleged 71-year sports curse put on the team in 1945.)
Rizzo told Us on Monday that “the camaraderie” of that particular Cubs roster still feels special a decade later.
“We had so much fun playing the game. We genuinely played the game like kids, which is really hard to do at this level,” he said. “So, winning and breaking a curse. Everything that went into 100 years of not winning, the drought. I think you needed a team like that to win.”
Rizzo continued, “It’s so hard to win in this league, and there’s so [many] outside factors that go on on every team. Every player is dealing with their own issues, but that team we just all won, it felt like.”
After his time on the Cubs, Rizzo made the move to New York City, where he was the Yankees’ first baseman for three seasons from 2021 to 2024.
“You just gotta be yourself and know that yourself is good enough,” he told Us, reflecting on the pressure that comes with being a Yankee. “You can’t try to be anyone else. You can’t try to be someone you’re not. In New York, you can get pulled in a lot of different directions.”
He explained, “Maybe there’s a lot more opportunities to go and do endorsement deals, or to go enjoy New York City. But if you just stay authentic to yourself and whatever that version is, and just go play baseball, I think that’s how you succeed.”
