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The baseball world pays respect to Matt Cain and reflects on his illustrious career on social media

By Jessica Kleinschmidt

After 13 seasons, three All-Star appearances and three World Series rings, Matt Cain decided to say farewell to baseball. The 32-year-old recently announced he would be retiring from the game at the end of the season. He made his final career start Saturday when the Giants hosted the Padres, finishing five scoreless innings on two hits and four strikeouts.
Goodbyes are never easy, but fans, former teammates and the baseball community everywhere made it well known on social media that he will be missed.
His loyal fan base had a lot of fun dedicating GIFs, tweets and their favorite moments to him:

And who could forget #BatKid?

And the perfect game:

Where were you on that historic day? 

Teammate Mark Melancon paid respects to Cain on a career most athletes can only dream of:

Former Giants catcher Bengie Molina tweeted some warm words as well:

Former teammate Ryan Vogelsong's wife Nicole made sure she displayed her love for him:

He also received many thanks from opposing teams: 

And celebrities ...

With an appearance by Hunter Pence ... twice:

And then, there was this:

Cain is just the fourth player in Giants history to play his entire career with the team over a minimum of 10 seasons.
Congratulations to him and all he has achieved over his illustrious career.

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