Today is a momentous day for the Toronto Blue Jays franchise. On Friday morning, 42-year old right fielder and power producer Jose Bautista agreed to a one-day deal with the team he spent nine full seasons with so he could retire as a Blue Jay — a fitting formal closure to the career of one of the greatest players in franchise history.

The Blue Jays announced the deal on their official Twitter account, marking an official end to Bautista's 14-year big league career.

The overwhelming response from the Blue Jays franchise to this announcement was elation, as Jose Bautista had plenty of iconic moments for the franchise ever since he became one of the most feared hitters in the league in 2010.

One such iconic moment was Bautista's go-ahead three-run home run in the seventh inning of the 2015 ALDS. That was when Bautista broke a 3-3 tie in stylish fashion, sending a moonshot all the way to the bleachers in left field while tossing his bat into orbit in celebration.

Jose Bautista was the Blue Jays' face of the franchise when they became serious contenders in the mid-2010s. The trio of Bautista, Josh Donaldson, and Edwin Encarnacion legitimately elicited fear into the hearts of the opposing teams' pitchers — and with those three in the heart of the Blue Jays' order, they advanced into the ALCS in consecutive seasons — falling short to the Kansas City Royals and Cleveland Indians in 2015 and 2016, respectively.

Bautista's career is something to emulate for players who aim to be late bloomers in the big leagues. The 42-year old slugger spent the greater part of the first four years of his career with the Pittsburgh Pirates, tallying a grand total of -1.4 WAR (per Fangraphs) before arriving in Toronto.

The Blue Jays then swooped in for him, trading little-known catcher Robinzon Diaz to the Pirates for the struggling then-27 year old third baseman. The move to the north did wonders for Bautista, as he broke out in his second full season with the Blue Jays, hitting 54 home runs and driving in 124 runs. From that point forward, the third baseman turned right fielder did not look back until his inevitable age-related decline.

During his 1,235 game stint for the Blue Jays, Bautista tallied 288 home runs, 766 RBIs, and 1,103 hits on an overall slash line of .253/.372/.506.