Franco shows age is nothin? but a number
As our normal ?Armchair Quarterback,? Duane Sherrill, is busy at home with the newest addition to his family, you readers can enjoy another blessed event ? back-to-back doses of Robservations.
The next time you feel that creaking in your bones, or you pull a muscle in your neck while putting on your T-shirt (don?t laugh, I?ve actually done that), just think about Julio Franco.
At 47 years young, Franco became the oldest player in the history of Major League Baseball to hit a home run when he belted a two-run, pinch-hit shot against the Padres to help his New York Mets to a 7-2 victory Friday night.
Franco, who was an ?old man? by normal big-league standards a decade ago, was already the oldest MLB player to hit a grand slam, a pinch-hit homer and to have a multiple-homer game before Friday?s shot. And the slugger, who broke a 76-year-old record with his home run, says he?s not ready to stop sending balls out of the park any time soon.
?That won?t be the last home run I hit, and I hope I hit one when I?m 50,? he told the Associated Press.
?Why not? They signed me here for two years. God gave me the great gift to play the game of baseball, and I want to play until I?m 50. If He gives me two more years, don?t you think He?s going to give me another one??
I?m going out on a limb here and saying that Franco?s record, even if he doesn?t homer at age 50, will stand for quite some time. After all, it?s been 76 years since the previous ?oldest player to homer? record was set. Athletics pitcher Jack Quinn was nine days away from turning 47 when he touched ?em all back in June of 1930.
It all goes to show you that just because an athlete?s got a few years on them, that doesn?t mean that athlete doesn?t have what it takes to still compete with the youngsters.
Examples, you say? Do you really have to ask? Take a look at some of these ?veterans? of the sporting world.
? Hey, kids! Did you know that ?Big George? Foreman once did something other than smile on infomercials for his handy-dandy fat-reducing grill. As it turns out, he was quite a boxer back in the 1970s, and made an unbelievable comeback in the 1990s. Foreman went all the way, in fact, and was 45 years old when he defeated Michael Moorer for the heavyweight boxing championship.
? In 2002 Martina Navratilova became the oldest person to ever win a tennis tour title when she and partner Natasha Zvereva won the doubles crown in the Madrid Open.
? Harold Stilson became the oldest golfer to ever hit a hole-in-one, when he aced the Deerfield (Fla.) Country Club?s 16th hole back in 2001. Stilson was making his way around the track ? and still swinging a pretty good iron ? despite being 101 years old.
? And back in 1965, pitching legend Satchel Paige, at age 59, became the oldest player to ever take the field in a major league game.
? And finally, because he helped do the homework for this column and because I can?t resist getting a shot in at him every chance I get, Dale Stubblefield recently became the oldest Southern Standard sports writer to ever interview both Mario Andretti and Bruce Pearl in the same year.