CLAY MOYLE
There hasn’t been an awful lot about the performance of the Seattle Mariners this season to grab my attention, but I’ve certainly taken notice of what 41-year-old Raul Ibanez is doing.
Raul just blasted his 22nd home run of the season on July 8 in the Mariners 89th game of the 2013 season. What makes this especially noteworthy is the highest number of dingers ever produced by a major league ballplayer over the age of 40 is the 29 home runs that the Splendid Splinter, Ted Williams, knocked out of ballparks way back in 1960. Williams turned 42 during his final season for the Boston Red Sox that year.
With just over half of the season behind him it would seem Ibanez is almost a sure bet to demolish the mark set by Williams. The only real question is how much he’ll better it by.
What makes Raul’s performance all the more remarkable is his career high for home runs in a single season is only 34. There is a chance that he could achieve a career high in this category at age 41!
All of this got me to thinking about where Raul’s potential achievement might stand in relation to other significant achievements by athletes over the age of 40. A quick look at the performance of the man whose record he’s presently pursuing revealed some other pretty eye opening statistics in their own right.
Did you know Ted Williams, the last man to hit .400 in a single season, batted a blistering .388 at age 38? It boggles the mind to think a man that age could produce an average that high.
Williams posted a career average of .344 and many consider him the greatest hitter in history. That said, there is currently a very good chance a 41-year-old Seattle Mariner will eclipse one of Ted’s long-standing records.
A peek at a list of the oldest major league baseball players in history reveals a number of those who weren’t pitchers only made token appearances as position players. But, there was one little-known infielder of recent years named Julio Franco who deserves special mention.
Franco played in 125 games for the Atlanta Braves in 2004 at age 45 and hit .309 that season! A lifetime .298 hitter he also produced an average that would make most present day Mariners proud when he hit .273 in 95 games at the ripe old age of 47.
The much-maligned all-time hit king Pete Rose also did himself proud when he hit .325 at age 40 on his march toward a total of 4,256 career hits.
In terms of professional basketball performances by old-timers, I think I am most impressed by the little men who are able to continue to play at a high-level well beyond the norm for someone who is constantly matched up against some of the quickest men in their sport.
The guy who I always think of first in that regard is John Stockton. The NBA’s all-time leader in assists and steals was still going pretty darn strong in his final season (2002-2003) at age 41 when he played in all 82 games and averaged 10.8 points per game to go along with an average of 7.7 assists.
When you turn your attention to a list of players who participated in the NFL at age 40 or older you find it littered with quarterbacks, kickers, and punters and a few linemen. But, if you look hard enough you’ll find a couple of names and positions that should stand out from the others.
One of those is Darrell Green. Green is considered one of the fastest players in the history of the NFL. What is remarkable about his inclusion on the list of players who played in the league at an age of 40 or older is he is the only defensive back on the list. Remarkably, Green played cornerback and was continually matched up against many of the fastest players in the game until retiring at the age of 42.
The other name that stood out on that list, and was the only wide receiver to play over the age of 40, was Jerry Rice. Rice, who was well known for his devotion to his off-season conditioning, is the NFL’s all-time leader for receptions, touchdown receptions and yards, and finally retired at age 42. But, he was still going strong at ages 40 and 41 when he hauled in 92 and 63 passes respectively while playing for the Oakland Raiders.
In the sport of boxing, George Foreman became the oldest heavyweight champion in history at age 45 when Michael Moore momentarily forgot whom he was up against and left himself open to a heavy right-hand bomb in 1994. The legs may be the first thing to go, but the punch is typically the last, and big George always had one of the biggest punches in the game.
But, once again I find myself more impressed by a smaller man, a fighter by the name of Bernard Hopkins. Hopkins, who was born in 1965, unified the middleweight titles of all three of boxing’s major sanctioning bodies in 2001 and defended a world middleweight title a record 20 times before losing it in 2005.
Unlike the heavyweights, who are typically bigger and slower, the middleweight athletes Hopkins had to defend his title against were much quicker and that makes his reign all the more remarkable.
The ageless wonder eventually moved up to the light-heavyweight division where he captured a world title at the age of 46 years and 4 months to become the oldest fighter in history to win a world championship.
Now 48, Hopkins defeated Tavoris Cloud for the IBF light-heavyweight championship only four months ago!
It’s been nice to see some of the younger ballplayers the Mariners have brought up this season start to produce of late and give us a bit of hope for the future. But, for me the highlight of this season is definitely Raul Ibanez.
Get ‘er done Raul!