A few weeks into Major League Baseball's off-season, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel had a short story on long-time major league pitcher Salomon Torres and his announcement of his second retirement. The article focuses almost 100 percent on baseball but contained one of those classic paragraphs that briefly mentions religion and then runs away from it like it was some sort of third rail. For a little bit of background, Torres started pitching for the San Francisco Giants in 1993 and retired after the 1997 season with the Seattle Mariners to return to his home country of the Dominican Republic to coach a summer league team. Torres started pitching again in 2001 and returned to MLB in fall 2002:

Acting on a promise he made to himself midway through the 2008 season, Torres informed Milwaukee Brewers general manager Doug Melvin on Tuesday morning that he was retiring as an active player. The club made the announcement official later in the day.

The Brewers had a $3.75 million option for 2009 on Torres, which they would have exercised by the Saturday deadline after his strong performance as an emergency closer last season.

"I wanted to make it easy for him," said Torres, 36, reached at home in Pittsburgh. "I already had made up my mind and wanted to tell him this was my last season."

Torres, 36, a deeply religious man, said he wanted to devote more time to his family, including three young children, as well as his faith.

The Associated Press also notes that Torres made the decision to retire in order to "spend more time with his family and faith." Is that all we get to hear?

An August 2007 article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette informs us that Torres is "a devout Jehovah's Witness." The article discusses a decision by Torres to drop a grievance and lawsuit against the Pittsburg Pirates "solely on his religion."

"It is not up to me, as a Christian, to seek justice on my own. It is up to God to handle the situation, and I will let Him do that for me," Torres said. "After a long talk with myself, I've decided this is the right path to take."

Any reason why readers should be privy to more details on Torres faith and how it has impacted his life? Somehow I suspect it's a more interesting story that what we've been given.

Image of Torres throwing a pitch for the Pittsburgh Pirates used under a Wikimedia Commons license.