The Mets brought back Moises Alou, 41, and Damion Easley, 38, and that got me thinking.
Both of these guys seem a little old — by baseball player standards, mind you. As a 43-year-old, I can announce that people in their 40s are indeed young.
But it seems like the Mets have a thing for players in this age group, more so than in the past. So I did some checking. And darn it, we are old!
The friends at www.baseball-reference.com have an amazing data base, and I checked the average age of the team for each of our years. Then I looked for the oldest player for each year, and the number of players over 40.
Last year we had our oldest team ever, with an average age of 30.8 -- beating out the 2002 disaster, which was 30.5.
The youngest teams were 1967 — 25.8 years old — and the 1969 champs, at 25.9 years old.
We’ve only had nine years with a 40-year-old. Last year we had six on the roster, a team record! We had six with five on the roster for the demise: Tom Glavine, Jeff Conine and Sandy Alomar Jr. (all 41) and Orlando Hernandez, (allegedly 41) and Alou, 40. Of course, we had Julio Franco, 48, through the All-Star Game.
The year before we had three, with Franco, Glavine and Hernandez. There were two in 1999 — Orel Hersheiser and Rickey Henderson — and 1965, with Yogi Berra and Warren Spahn.
We had one member of the 40 and Over Club in 2000 — Rickey Henderson — 1985 and 1986 — both Rusty Staub — and 1972 and 1973 — both Willie Mays.
And in case you are curious, our youngest oldest player was 33 — in 1974 and the 1986 champs.
Here’s average age per year, and the oldest player on the club:
1962: 29.0, Gene Woodling, 39
1963: 27.4, Gil Hodges, 39
1964: 26.9, Roy McMillin and Frank Lary, 34.
1965: 26.4, Warren Spahn, 44
1966: 26.9, Ken Boyer and Bob Friend, 35
1967: 25.8, Boyer, 36
1968: 26.0, Ed Charles, 35
1969: 25.9, Ed Charles, 36
1970: 26.5, Donn Clendenon and Don Cardwell, 34
1971: 26.7, Donn Clendenon, 35
1972, 27.3, Willie Mays, 41
1973, 27.9, Willie Mays, 42
1974, 27.8, Ray Sedecki, Jack Aker, 33
1975, 28.6, Joe Torre, 34
1976, 28.5, Joe Torre, 35
1977, 27.0, Joe Torre, 36
1978, 27.1, Jerry Koosman, 35
1979, 27.6, Jose Cardenal, 35
1980, 27.4, Dyar Miller, 34
1981, 28.2, Mike Marshall, 38
1982, 28.7, Rusty Staub, 38
1983, 27.6, Rusty Staub, 39
1984, 27.2, Rusty Staub, 40
1985, 28.1, Rusty Staub, 41
1986, 28.0, Ray Knight, Tim Corcoran, 33
1987, 28.0, Bill Almon, 34
1988, 27.8, Keith Hernandez, Gary Carter, Terry Leach, 34
1989, 27.5, Keith Hernandez, Gary Carter, Terry Leach, 35
1990, 27.5, Tommy Herr, 34
1991, 29.1, Rick Cerone, 37
1992, 30.0, Willie Randolph, 37
1993, 29.4, Frank Tanana, 39
1994, 27.8, Kevin Mc Reynolds, 34
1995, 27.4, Brett Butler, 38
1996, 27.2, John Franco, 35
1997, 27.3, Lance Johnson, 33
1998, 28.8, Tony Phillips, 39
1999, 30.0, Orel Hersheiser and Rickey Henderson, 40
2000, 30.4, Rickey Henderson, 41
2001, 30.3, Dennis Cook, 38
2002, 30.5, Steve Reed, 37
2003, 29.3, Tom Glavine, Al Leiter, Jay Bell, 37
2004, 29.8, Tom Glavine, Al Leiter, 38
2005, 28.8, Tom Glavine, 39
2006, 30.1, Julio Franco, 47
2007, 30.8, Julio Franco, 48
I realize Omar likes to have a mix of younger players and experienced veteans, but I’m wondering if he might need to spend a little more time looking at guys on the south side of 30, much less 40.
Not that people in their 40s are old. Which is what I keep telling myself.
8 comments:
Moises owes you a piece of his renewal for keeping his age down. He's actually 41 (a tribute to Tom, no doubt).
You know what I find amazing? Ed Kranepool was never the oldest guy on the club in any of his 18 seasons, not even the ones when he was the last 1962 Met (which was all of them after a while). Ed Kranepool pinched his last hit before he was 35.
And he always seemed old...thus the classic banner unfurled at Shea circa 1965, "IS ED KRANEPOOL OVER THE HILL?"
Continuing in the my pain in the Assenmacher way, Ed Charles was the oldest in '69, very much the Grand Old Man of that club.
Correct on both counts! Thank you Greg.
Hey Mets Guy! This is Johnny (Luncbucket, Dicksohot) from the CPF.
Was wondering if you could email me on a sorta important unimportant matter asap. I mean, it concerns the Mercury Mets.
mbtn01 (at) yahoo (dot com).
Thanks! Jon
Age, is a relative concept, both as a noun and adjective. I recently learned that it differs for men and women. If you are a man, 65 is old!! I mean you might as well buy a motorcycle and ride off into the sunset, or adopt a football team that gives you so much misery you forget (which is done a lot) how old you are. Now for women, interesting enough, old is 68 and that changes every September. So, for example, next September old for a women is 69 and so on.
TW GB
You, my cousin, live dangerously!
I'll out run him (I hope), that's my only chance for survival!
TW GB
Ok, now I'm a little scared. I have been on-line daily looking for a new blog. This has become an important part of my life!! Nothing from Dave for a while, is he alright, did he get lost in the uniform rack in the baseball room? This actually would not be difficult! Does he have another job besides entertaining me (almost) weekly with his witty blogs? I need answers and I need them now! I will form a search party soon. I'm concerned, he’s in Michigan for C sake, have you all looked at a map, that place is practically Canada, and you all know about those potential terrorists. Maple leaf my butt! Damn, those red coats on their “high and mighty horses” and extremely benign appearing flag. The only group that scares me more is the Hessians (not really, but I always like to throw in a Hessian comment). Listen all, I’m truly concerned and I'm not going to take it any longer!! If only I could get a direct flight to Michigan (will I need a passport?). I’m going to place a call to the Salvation Army, I’m sure the whimpy French in Quebec will be on their collective knees in no time. Plus we have no real troops left.
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