A veteran Major League Baseball player who is one of the top stars in the sport is calling it quits. The New York Times reports that Derek Jeter, the “redoubtable” shortstop for the Yankees, called the team’s majority owner, Hal Steinbrenner, on Wednesday to tell him he would be retiring at the end of the 2014 season.

“Steinbrenner, still in New York, having attended the inaugural news conference for pitcher Masahiro Tanaka on Tuesday, was about to board a plane to return to Tampa. But before he could, Jeter, 39, gave him the news that neither Steinbrenner nor any other member of the club’s front office had seen coming,” the story reports.

Jeter then made his decision public in a statement on Facebook.

“I’ve experienced so many defining moments in my career,” Jeter wrote. “Winning the World Series as a rookie shortstop, being named the Yankees’ captain, closing the old and opening the new Yankee Stadium. Through it all, I’ve never stopped chasing the next one. I want to finally stop the chase and take in the world.”

The article notes that Jeter was admired both by fans of the Yankees and by those who follow rival teams. Baseball fans were “deeply respectful of the way Jeter has consistently played through minor injuries, conducted himself in a way that did not embarrass his team and come through in big moments more times than anyone could possibly remember,” the Times notes.

Derek Jeter