ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Roberto Alomar hasn't looked like a future Hall of Fame second baseman this spring. He knew it, and so did the people who watched him struggle.

So after a miserable Friday night in the field and at the plate -- when he made two errors and struck out in one inning of play -- he announced his retirement on Saturday morning prior to an exhibition game at Progress Energy Park between the Devil Rays and Phillies.

"Yesterday was my last day playing the game of baseball," Alomar said from behind a pair of wraparound sunglasses. "I've had a long career. I'm real proud of myself, the way I handle myself on the field. I couldn't play [any] more at the level I want to play. So I decided to retire."

Alomar, who has had back problems all spring, reached his decision on Friday night after talking to his mother and father on the telephone.

"I'll tell you, I [cried] all last night," Alomar said. "I love the game of baseball."

Alomar signed a $600,000 deal with the Devil Rays in January because he wanted playing time so he could take a shot at collecting the 276 hits he needed to reach 3,000. Given the quality of his career, Alomar hardly needed to reach 3,000 hits to punch his ticket for Cooperstown. The veteran second baseman was a 12-time All- Star, won 10 Gold Gloves, played on two World Series championship teams in Toronto and retires with a .300 career average.

But his performance has declined in recent years. After batting .336 with 20 home runs and 100 RBIs for the Indians in 2001, he hit a combined .262 with 20 home runs and 116 RBIs in stints with the Mets, White Sox and Diamondbacks. He batted .263 with four home runs and 24 RBIs last season in 56 games for Chicago and Arizona, and he spent two months on the disabled list with a broken left hand.

"To me, the Hall of Fame, I never expect that," Alomar said. "When I came to play baseball, I just want to play baseball -- and now everybody is talking about the Hall of Fame. To be in the Hall of Fame, surrounded by the best players in the game -- that, to me, will be my ultimate goal. I don't know what I would say when I'm sitting there with all those guys that I respect. It would be an honor, and it would be the best gift I could give my family."

Where Alomar ranks (Based on the second basemen on the all-time lists, this is where Alomar ranks at his position) Statistic Leader Total Rank/Total Doubles Nap Lajoie 657 4th / 504 Steals Eddie Collins 744 4th / 474 Hits Collins 3,315 5th / 2,724 Games Collins 2,826 6th / 2,379

Of all the countless baseball experiences framed in nine-inning segments over the course of 17 years, Alomar vividly remembers his first Major League hit.

"Nolan Ryan was on the mound and I hit a little ground ball," Alomar said. "He was pitching for Houston. That was big, coming off a future Hall of Famer. My first game was supposed to be against Fernando Valenzuela, but it got rained out. The next day we faced Nolan Ryan."

Alomar said he remembers everything from his career.

"I remember the good, the bad -- because in the game of baseball, you're going to have some ups and downs," he said. "And when I get home, I can sit at home in my bed and say, 'You know what? I gave everything that I could. I gave my best and I [enjoyed] it.'"

Asked if he had any regrets, Alomar said everybody has them.

"You're not a perfect human being," Alomar said. "I bet you guys are not either -- but life goes on. What's important to me now is health, family, and friends."

The most notorious moment of Alomar's career came on Sept. 27, 1996, when he spit on umpire John Hirschbeck. Alomar received a five-game suspension at the start of the 1997 season, along with the scorn of baseball fans.

Slick fielders Gold Glove leaders among second basemen Rank Player Gold Gloves 1. Roberto Alomar 10 2. Ryne Sandberg 9 T3. Bill Mazeroski 8 T3. Frank White 8 T5. Bobby Richardson 5 T5. Joe Morgan 5

"That, to me, is over and done," Alomar said. "It happened over nine years ago. We are now great friends. We have done some things with charity. God put us maybe in this situation for something. But I think people who know me, people who have had the chance to be with me on the same team, know what kind of person I am. Anything I ever did wrong, I would confront it and now it is OK."

Alomar later donated $252,000 toward research for the disease Adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) as a result of his relationship with Hirschbeck.

Devil Rays general manager Chuck LaMar, who sat next to Alomar during the news conference, said the Devil Rays plan to talk to Alomar about remaining with the club in some capacity. Alomar's first duty as a retired player will be to throw out the first pitch prior to Sunday's Devil Rays-Yankees contest in St. Petersburg.

Asked how he'd like to be remembered, Alomar said: "I'd like them to say [I was] a guy who went out there and tried hard every day to be one of the best."