MIKE WALLACE ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT

The baddest ass of them all is stepping away from "60 Minutes." He is 88. From CBS in Chicago:

Wallace said he's getting too old to travel and to maintain the busy schedule required of 60 Minutes correspondents.

"I’ve often replied, when asked, ‘I’ll retire when my toes turn up’," said Wallace. "Well, they’re just beginning to curl a trifle, which means that, as I approach my 88th birthday, it’s become apparent to me that my eyes and ears, among other appurtenances, aren’t quite what they used to be. And the prospect of long flights to wherever in search of whatever are not quite as appealing.

"But CBS is not pushing me," he said. "I’ll be in a comfortable office on the same floor -- just around the corner from where I’ve holed up for the past 43 years -- available, when asked, for whatever chore CBS News, 60 MINUTES, the CBS EVENING NEWS, have in mind for me."

"Plus, longer vacations, of course," he added.

CBS News President Sean McManus said:

"Mike Wallace is one of a few giants of broadcast journalism for whom a list of endless superlatives can’t and don’t do justice. From his genre-creating early days in radio to his standard-setting work on 60 MINUTES for the past 38 years, and from datelines all over the world, Mike has completely embodied what good, tough, fair journalism should be over the course of his 60-plus years in the business. And he’s broken more than his share of big stories along the way. I’m very pleased that he’ll remain at CBS News as Correspondent Emeritus. There is no finer journalist from whom everyone in the news business can learn."

Wallace was the original co-host along with Harry Reasoner when the legendary news magazine program debuted in 1968.

Sucks to get old.