[NOTE: Ryan Dempster announced his official retirement Friday, Dec. 5, 2014, after sitting out the 2014 season. At the close of the 2014 season, he had 95.2 career Box-Toppers points, which at the time ranked him 75th among all players and 45th among all pitchers. Box-Toppers record keeping began in 1995.]

Box-Toppers’ Stick-A-Fork-In-Them series looks at 14 players whose careers are done or may be done. Included is a look at how they have fared in Box-Toppers points over their careers, reflecting their impact on the game over time. This is the 14th of the series:

14. Ryan Dempster

Ryan Dempster, 36, citing health and family concerns, says he will not pitch in 2014, but did not announce his formal retirement.

Coming back to the game seems unlikely given what he said as quoted in The Boston Globe in February: “I’m just looking at the 2014 season and know that I won’t be playing this year. If something changes, then obviously something changes. I don’t see that changing anywhere in the future, but I also don’t want to close the door on that. If this is the end, what a great way to go out.”

Ryan Dempster

Here are Ryan Dempster's Box-Toppers statistics. The third column shows his Box-Toppers points (BTP) per season. The final column shows his All-Star Selections, his Box-Toppers key season rankings and his standing in key postseason awards voting.

Year	Team	BTP	Notes
1998	fla nl	1.0
1999	fla nl	6.0
2000	fla nl	9.7	AS, BTP-56, BTP-NL pi-16
2001	fla nl	7.0
2002	fla nl/cin nl	2.0
2003	cin nl	2.7
2004	chi nl	0.0
2005	chi nl	6.0
2006	chi nl	3.0
2007	chi nl	6.0
2008	chi nl	12.7	AS, BTP-22, BTP-NL pi-9, CYA-6
2009	chi nl	7.7
2010	chi nl	7.7
2011	chi nl	8.7
2012	chi nl/tex al	11.0	BTP-41, BTP-AL pi-15
2013	bos al	4.0
Total		95.2	BTP-70, BTP-pi-42

AS All-star selection
BTP Finish among all players in Box-Toppers points
BTP-AL pi Finish among all AL pitchers in BTP
BTP-NL pi Finish among all NL pitchers in BTP
CYA Finish in league Cy Young Award voting

Source: Information for player awards comes from Baseball-Reference.com

Dempster won a World Series championship with the Red Sox in 2013.

Dempster has 95.2 career Box-Toppers points, 42nd among pitchers and 70th among all players (Box-Toppers record keeping began in 1995). He began his career in 1998 with the Marlins, moved to the Reds in midseason 2002, played for the Cubs from 2004 to 2012 and finished 2012 with the Rangers before playing for the Red Sox in 2013.

Some career highlights:

• In 2000 with the Marlins, he had 9.7 Box-Toppers points, 16th among National League pitchers and 56th among all players.

• In 2008 with the Cubs, he had 12.7 Box-Toppers points, a career season high, ninth among NL pitchers and 22nd among all players. He finished sixth in NL Cy Young Award voting, the only season he received votes. Tim Lincecum of the Giants won the award; he had 17.7 Box-Toppers points, second among NL pitchers. CC Sabathia of the Brewers led NL pitchers with 26.7 Box-Toppers points.

• In 2012 with the Cubs and the Rangers, he had 11.0 Box-Toppers points, 15th among American League pitchers and 41st among all players.

Dempster had two seasons with 10.0 or more Box-Toppers points.

Box-Toppers tracks who most helps their team win the most games. Using standard box score statistics, Box-Toppers uses a simple formula to determine a Player of the Game for each Major League Baseball game played. That player is the person who contributed most to his team’s win. Players earn Box-Toppers points for being named Player of the Game and can earn bonus points for being Player of the Day or top player or batter in their league for the day.