C.J. Wilson puts baseball hobby on hold to focus on auto dealership & racing career

Back in September, as the Angels wrapped up their lackluster 2016 season, our very own Jessica DeLine openly pondered “Whatever happened to C.J. Wilson?”. It was a good question, considering Wilson was, at the time, under contract with the Halos still and from the little information available, it seemed as though he was still trying to get through his rehab assignments in High-A in hopes of getting back to the big league.

Well, I think we can finally put that question to bed, as someone from an ABC affiliate near Fresno not only spoke with C.J., but got the scoop on his new endeavor: a Porsche/BMW/Audi dealership. Wilson doesn’t mention the word “retire”, but he does speak on the troubles and travails of an MLB pitcher in the past tense, as if that whole baseball thing is now completely behind him.

Wilson, from the interview, has relocated to Fresno, of all places, and is not only the owner of the aforementioned dealership, but he’s now going to be focusing on racing a lot more. Good for him, and good for us! Everybody’s happy.

The Angels (and their fans) don’t get to worry about The Nibbler going out there and mucking up the scoreboard, all while earning $20 million for the effort. The payroll is now exorcised from the books, and Wilson is happily doing his thing up in Fresno. Win/win for all involved, I’ll say.

C.J. Wilson will always be remembered as one part of what Halos Heaven called “The Day of the Panther”. That was when we found out our beloved Angels had quite the day at the Winter Meetings in late 2011, as they not only signed Albert Pujols but also Wilson. We all rejoiced...until they took the field, that is. Wilson never lived up to that five year, $77 million contract, mainly due to some declining numbers and a whole lot of injury woes.

Now all that’s left of the Day of the Panther is good ol’ Albert Pujols, and I’m not betting on him moving to Fresno to pursue another passion any time soon, so we’ll be seeing him for a few more years. But C.J. Wilson is gone from the sport that he treated like a hobby, and he’s now free to pursue the hobbies that he really wanted to make into careers (photography and racing).

Happy trails. Oh, and one more for the road: “Ok, dude, whatever.”