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Best-Ever 40 Year Old HittersMajor Leaguers Who Avoided Baseball's Dreaded Mid-Life CrisisBaseball is a short career. Most players, even great ones, are washed up by their mid-thirties. But not these hitters; they all had great seasons after age 40.
Ty Cobb, 1927 Philadelphia Athetics (40)It was Cobb's second to last season in the major leagues, and it was his last chance to be part of a pennant winner in years. The 1927 A's were a curious mix of aging superstars and young players on the verge of greatness. Cobb still stood out, even in this group. The 40-year old hit .357 with 32 doubles, 7 triples and 93 RBI. He also stole 22 bases and helped the Athletics to 91 wins and a second place finish behind the Murderers' Row Yankees. Dave Winfield, 1992 Toronto Blue Jays (40) Not a lot of people thought Dave Winfield had much left in the tank at the beginning of the 1992 season. Although he had a respectable season with the Angels in 1991, his average and power numbers had been on a downward trend over the past half-decade. But the Blue Jays, who missed a World Series appearance by just one game in '91, were looking for another power hitter to help Joe Carter in the middle of the lineup. The team signed Winfield to a one year contract worth $2.3 million, and in the face of a great deal of writer and fan criticisim, Big Dave had a damn good year. He hit .290 with 26 home runs and 108 RBI. He finsihed fifth in MVP voting, and in the World Series, Winfield exorcised his October demons when he doubled to knock in the winning runs in the eleventh inning of the deciding Game 6. Ted Williams, 1960 Boston Red Sox (41)In his final major league season, 41-year old Ted Williams hit .316 with 29 home runs and 72 RBI -- in just 330 at-bats. Injuries limited "The Kid" to just 113 games, but he made the most of his last year at Fenway, and topped it all off with a home run in his final big-league at-bat. Barry Bonds, 2004 San Francisco Giants (40)*Bonds gets an asterisk for two reasons. One, he didn't turn 40 until July 24 of that season, so he did put up about half of his astounding numbers when he was still a wee lad of 39. The second issue people have with Bonds is, of course, the performance-enhancing drugs. But if the Canseco book and Mitchell Report taught us anything, it's that steroid use was indeed rampant for the better part of a decade in Major League Baseball. Under such circumstances, can't one safely ask: is it really cheating if everybody's doing it? Regardless of what tuns out to be the accepted answer to that question, baseball's almost Stalinist ostracism of Bonds should not extend to his record on the field. At least not in 2004. That year, Bonds won the batting title with a .362 average. He hit 45 homers. He knocked in 101 runs and scored 129 runs. Pitchers feared him more than a torn rotator cuff, giving him a major league record 232 free passes; 120 of those walks were intentional. Those records should stand for a good long while. With all of those hits and all of those at-bats, Bonds was obviously on base quite a bit. So much in fact that he set the major league record for that statistic as well, .609. He reached base 61% of the time. Think about that the next time somebody pops off about how "Bonds only excelled because of steroids." Well, if it was only steroids, then why was Bonds the only player to post such other-orldly numbers? hy didin't Neifi Perez have a .600 OBP? And if it was all steroids, then how come all of those pitchers, who were (allegedly) taking the same stuff as Bonds, couldn't get him out? Ask yourself those questions. Julio Franco, 2004 Atlanta Braves (45)Admittedly, Franco did not have statistics that even approached the rest of the players on this list. But he gets the nod for one reason: he did it at 45 years old. And when you pass 400, every year is like three. Fight on Julio. Fight on Brother. Honorable Mention Darrell Evans, 1987 Detroit Tigers (40):.257 BA, 34 HR, 99 RBI. Darrell's 34 homers are the most ever by a player who tunred forty before the start of the relevant season. Sam Rice, 1930 Washington Senators (40): .349 BA, 207 hits, 35 Doubles, 13 Triples, 121 Runs. Edgar Martinez, 2003 Seattle Mariners (40): .294 BA, 24 HR, 98 RBI. Harold Baines, 1999 White Sox, Orioles (40): .312 BA, 25 HR, 103 RBI. ______________________________ Best-Ever 40 Year Old Pitchers
The copyright of the article Best-Ever 40 Year Old Hitters in Baseball is owned by James Lincoln Ray. Permission to republish Best-Ever 40 Year Old Hitters in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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Jul 6, 2008 6:59 PM
James Baxter :
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