33 is fairly old for a baseball player, especially in the 1990s.
King had pretty severe back issues throughout his career as well. Good player that never quite reached his full potential.
King had a 4-year run where he had an OPS north of .800 and hit 100 HR's with 403 RBI's, so he averaged 25 HR's, 100 RBI's, .260/.335/.475 over 4 seasons. Not steroid good, but damn good. Those seasons were very near the end of his career.
I base the fact he retired early because he had enough money and did not really like playing baseball on what his agent said at the time and what King said several years later. King stated he did not like the work, the pressure, and wanted just to wear his camo, go into the woods in Arkansas and hunt.
As for Tuitt, everyone deals with tragedy differently. I think it is a stretch to automatically assume his apparent decision to quit means he was only in it for the money.
If Tuitt loved playing football, he almost certainly would have returned since he would be doing something that made him feel joy in place of the anger and hurt that he felt. If he loved playing football, he would have been at the Steelers facility instead of being MIA for months.
If he needed the money, he also probably would have managed to find the field and play.
Put those together, and you get a guy who does not really love playing football and does not need the money any more so he basically bailed on playing.
That could very well be the case, but some people are just never the same after personal loss.
Okay, sure. I guess. But I am pretty certain you, like basically everybody, has lost somebody incredibly close to you. I also suspect you were back at work within 3-4 days. Further, even if you had a ton of money set aside, I suspect you would have returned to some type of work within a fairly short time.
Work gives us a solid foundation for our lives, gives us meaning, gives us a reason for getting up in the morning. I cannot think of any therapist or mental health practitioner who thinks it a good idea to stay at home and ponder what makes us depressed rather than doing something productive, like work.