"The closest retirement I can think of that meets this criteria is Sandy Koufax. Wins 27 games one year and then retires."
Kofax retired due to injury:
http://espn.go.com/classic/biography/s/koufax_sandy.html
Thanks for that link! Great read.
As a kid I watched Koufax pitch many times on TV. I was a pitcher and he was one of my boyhood idols.
Yeah, I knew that Koufax retired because of his chronically arthritic elbow, but how many other athletes would have walked away like he did? Answer: virtually nobody. That's why I cited Koufax as a classic example of "retiring with class". I stand by that.
Regards,
LH