| 100% | LESTER | 6 | Jon ___, American baseball player who announced his retirement in January 2022 |
| 67% | CRAWFORD | 8 | Jamal ___, American basketball player who announced his retirement in March 2022 |
| 55% | RASK | 4 | Tuukka ___, Finnish ice hockey player who announced his retirement in February 2022 |
| 52% | ROGER | 5 | Tennis great Federer who announced his retirement in 2022 |
| 52% | STEPHEN | 7 | With 17 Across, justice who announced his retirement in 2022 |
| 48% | EOIN | 4 | ___ Morgan, British cricketer who announced his retirement from international cricket in June 2022 |
| 46% | BARTY | 5 | Ashleigh ___, Australian tennis player who announced her retirement in March 2022 |
| 45% | ELI | 3 | Manning who announced his retirement in 2020 |
| 45% | DEF | 3 | Rapper Mos ___, who announced his retirement in 2016 |
| 44% | LEON | 4 | Musician Redbone who announced his retirement in May 2015 |
| 43% | ROBERTREDFORD | 13 | Oscar-winning actor/director who announced his retirement in 2018 (2 wds.) |
| 43% | ELI | 3 | Two-time Super Bowl MVP quarterback Manning who announced his retirement in 2020 |
| 39% | ELIMANNING | 10 | QB great who announced his retirement on January 22 of this year |
| 38% | RUTH | 4 | Babe —, US baseball player who hit 714 home runs in his career from 1914-35 |
| 37% | JOHNSON | 7 | Walter ___, American baseball player who played his 21-year career for the Washington Senators |
| 37% | PETE | 4 | American former professional baseball player who played in MLB, ___ Rose |
| 37% | TED | 3 | ___ Williams, American baseball player who played his 19-year career for the Boston Red Sox |
| 37% | STAN | 4 | ___ Musial, American baseball player who played his 22-year career for the St. Louis Cardinals |
| 37% | MICKEY | 6 | ___ Mantle, American baseball player who played his 18-year career for the New York Yankees |
| 36% | SOSA | 4 | Former baseball player Sammy who was known for his home-run hitting skills in the '90s |
| 35% | RIVERA | 6 | Mariano ___, former Panamian-American baseball player who received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2019 |
| 34% | ASTRO | 5 | Baseball player who plays in Minute Maid Park |
| 33% | WILLIAMS | 8 | Serena ___, American tennis player who took a step back from the sport in 2022 |
| 33% | ALLSTAR | 7 | Baseball player who participates in a special midseason game: Hyph. |
| 33% | JORDAN | 6 | Former legendary basketball player Michael who announced his first retirement during the '90s |
| 33% | ONEAL | 5 | 15-time N.B.A. All-Star who announced his retirement on Twitter |
| 31% | COCOGAUFF | 9 | American 33-Across player who was runner-up to 16-Across at Roland-Garros in 2022 (2 wds.) |
| 31% | BERRA | 5 | Yogi —, baseball player who appeared in fourteen World Series for the New York Yankees |
| 31% | SOFIAKENIN | 10 | American tennis player who won the Australian Open in 2020: 2 wds. |
| 30% | CASEY | 5 | "Mighty" baseball player who struck out, in a classic poem |