Since I turned 40 in 2017, I’ve done yearly surveys of pro athlete ages in the primary team sports I follow (baseball & football) to see how many of my fellow 40-somethings were still at it. The owner of a body in its late 30s or beyond begins to understand that competing physically with anyone younger ceases to be any kind of good idea. We may have experience and knowledge, and our hand-eye coordination may hold out for many more years (but even that’s no guarantee), but numerous systems will have started to decay or break down entirely. Recovery time from minor bumps and strains goes from days to weeks or months. Or never! We just start accumulating damage.
So let’s see which old people are left.
Previously:
Baseball
It’s official: There are no more major league players older than me.
But we have an update. Last year Bartolo Colon finished the season as the oldest player left in the majors. He also earned the title of Last Remaining Player Older Than Me. But as a fun gesture to honor their future Hall of Famer, the Mariners added Ichiro Suzuki to the active roster for their two-game series in Japan to begin this season. Ichiro’s last appearance came on March 21. So for two days into the 2019 season (and only those two days) the league continued to have a player older than me, Ichiro Suzuki.
Bartolo didn’t end up pitching this season, which wasn’t surprising given that, despite continuing to find employment, he hadn’t actually been all that good at his job for two solid years. Also worth noting that a couple other older guys who appeared in previous years’ lists are still holding down gigs in foreign leagues: Walter Silva continues to hang around the Mexican Leagues, and Koji Uehara plays in Japan.
The oldest player left in the Majors is Fernando Rodney, at 42 (and around two months younger than me). He’ll be part of the Nationals’ World Series roster. Good for him! (At this point, I figure if enough ex-Tigers win World Series titles, I can retroactively count it for the Tigers.) Fernando is the last 40-something remaining in the league, though there are a handful of 39-year-olds who ought to be playing next year.
Football
Two survivors from last year’s list, both kickers. Adam Vinatieri missed a bunch of kicks the first couple of games this season and might’ve been close to losing his gig, but rallied and is doing well now. Matt Bryant has remained steady.
No way to really say how long these guys can keep it up. As noted in past years, since kickers don’t have to tackle or outrun anyone, it really just comes down to how long they can avoid some kind of leg injury or other nagging problem. George Blanda was the oldest player of all time, starting his career as a quarterback but transitioning into a kicker. He last appeared in a game aged 48 years, 3 months, 18 days. Our dudes have to be thinking about trying to surpass that. Adam Vinatieri will turn 48 next year, in December 2020 (the table above is a bit misleading–it’s currently his Age 47 season, but he won’t get there until December 28), but the season will end before he’d make it to 48 years, 3 months. He’d have to still be playing on opening day 2021, when he’d be something like 48 years, 8 months.
Update 29 October: I just read that Matt Bryant got cut from the Atlanta Falcons. He’s had a mediocre season so far and presumably the abysmal Falcons are just taking the opportunity to give a longer-term guy some seasoning. I also learned that Bryant actually hadn’t been in Atlanta’s plans for this year at all. They hadn’t actually re-signed him for this season but brought him back after their intended replacement bombed in the preseason. So for the moment Adam Vinatieri is the only remaining NFL player older than me, but we’ll have to see if Matt gets another temp gig this year.
To close the book on last year’s list… Punter Shane Lechler didn’t end up playing in 2018 and retired in the offseason. (When you don’t have a job, but “retire,” I guess that just means you stop practicing. Or your neighbors kindly ask you to stop punting footballs over the fence.) Phil Dawson did eventually get to try some kicks, and usually was still making them, but fought through a hip injury and the team eventually put him on injured reserve. He also retired, very amusingly signing a one-day contract to do so with the Browns, his original team. He must have enjoyed his time there, because those were some miserable Browns teams.
Three other active players are into their 40s: Tom Brady (turned 42 just before the season started), and Drew Brees and Josh McCown (both 40). Brady is still excellent, and I hate him and the Patriots so much. He has said various things about retiring, but it’s certainly a year-to-year thing. For Bill Belichick, too. They could win another Super Bowl this year and both walk away, or just keep grinding until they die or drive every non-New England football fan away from the sport entirely. I’d imagine Drew Brees is about done. The Saints have had some bad playoff luck the last couple of years. If they break through I’d guess he quits while on top. But really, probably just a season-to-season decision at this point. Josh McCown is a perfectly adequate career backup who just keeps getting jobs. I hope he outlasts everyone.
