February 10, 2010
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Old(er) Man Francoby Aaron GleemanMay 16, 2005 I wrote a column ("Old Man Franco") a little over a year ago wondering whether or not Julio Franco could become the best 45-year-old hitter in baseball history. As you might guess, the competition for that title was pretty limited. In fact, only two players in baseball history -- Cap Anson and Pete Rose -- had over 100 plate appearances in their age-45 season before Franco came along. Franco was hitting .286/.412/.393 in limited playing time when I wrote the column, so it looked like it would be a bit of a struggle to keep pace with Anson, who batted .285/.379/.361 as the first baseman/manager for the 1897 Cubs and, perhaps most importantly, racked up 497 plate appearances. As it turned out, Franco ended up with a lot more playing time at first base for the Braves last year than I imagined, and in doing so blew Anson (and Rose) out of the water. G AB PA AVG OBP SLG OPS+ RC Franco 125 320 361 .309 .378 .441 112 53 Anson 114 424 497 .285 .379 .361 92 57 Rose 72 237 272 .219 .316 .270 61 19Franco ended up having an excellent season at the plate, hitting .309/.378/.441 in 361 plate appearances to become the first 45-year-old in the sport's history to be an above-average hitter. His OPS+ (which adjusts for offensive environment) was 22% better than Anson's and nearly twice as good as Rose's, and while he didn't beat Anson in Runs Created, he came close -- Franco created four fewer runs than Anson in 136 fewer plate appearances. As amazing as what Franco did last season as a 45-year-old is -- and I think it is something that deserved a lot more attention than it got -- what's even more amazing is that he appears to be doing it all over again as a 46-year-old. While both Anson and Rose hung up their spikes following their age-45 seasons, Franco re-signed with the Braves and continues to platoon at first base with Adam LaRoche (whose father, Dave LaRoche, retired after Franco's rookie season, 1983). Franco is off to a bit of a slow start this season, hitting just .268/.305/.357 through his first 23 games, but the beauty of being 46 years old is that it doesn't much matter whether or not you hit well. Simply hitting -- .225 or .325, it doesn't matter -- is enough to send you right to the top of the list. Why? Because no 46-year-old hitter in baseball history has gone to the plate as many as even 100 times in a season. In fact, Franco's 59 plate appearances so far this year are already an all-time record. The previous age-46 record holder was Charlie Hough, who came to the plate 38 times as a starting pitcher for the second-year Florida Marlins in 1994. Hough and his knuckleball had their worst season on the mound, going 5-9 with a 5.15 ERA in 21 starts, before calling it quits after 25 big-league seasons. Hough also hit just .121/.147/.121 at the plate, but that was actually enough to put him among the top five all-time for offensive contributions by a 46-year-old. Franco could finish the year in an 0-for-50 slump and still coast into the top spot among 46-year-old hitters. That's not exactly something to brag about, at least not if you also plan to include the names of your competition, but it's still pretty cool. With Franco on his way to capturing the "best hitter" title for both age 45 and 46, I though it might be interesting to look at who holds that title for the others ages, too. It's a difficult title to hand out when talking about an age that has more than a handful of candidates, so picking one offensive metric to base everything on is nothing more than a quick-and-dirty way to do things. With that disclaimer in mind, I've chosen Runs Created Above Average for our purposes. RCAA adjusts for leagues and ballparks while telling you how many runs a player was better (or worse) than a league-average hitter. AGE PLAYER RCAA AGE PLAYER RCAA
17 Jimmie Foxx 4 30 Ted Williams 112
18 Whitey Lockman 11 31 Babe Ruth 132
19 Mel Ott 29 32 Babe Ruth 138
20 Mel Ott 75 33 Lou Gehrig 120
21 Joe Jackson 105 34 Mark McGwire 118
22 Ted Williams 144 35 Babe Ruth 122
23 Ted Williams 122 36 Barry Bonds 169
24 Lou Gehrig 136 37 Barry Bonds 161
25 Babe Ruth 156 38 Barry Bonds 115
26 Babe Ruth 166 39 Barry Bonds 152
27 Lou Gehrig 121 40 Willie Mays 47
28 Babe Ruth 157 41 Ted Williams 53
29 Babe Ruth 138 42 Cap Anson 26
43 Tony Perez 12
44 Cap Anson 8
45 Julio Franco 6At the end of this season Franco will join Mel Ott, Ted Williams, Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, Barry Bonds, and Cap Anson as the only players in major-league history to lead their age in RCAA more than once. Normally I'd say being in such elite company is something Franco could tell his grandkids about when they grow up, but in this case they're probably old enough to read about it for themselves.A few more interesting Franco-is-old notes (some of which are recycled from last year's column) ... HONOLULU, Dec. 9 -- After three days of mostly frustrating talks, trading activity picked up today at the winter meetings. The Cleveland Indians sent Von Hayes, an outfielder with a promising future, to the Philadelphia Phillies for five players, including Manny Trillo, an established second baseman who is 31 years old. A little less than a month after that trade was a made, a boy named Aaron Jay Gleeman was born in an Edina, Minnesota hospital. Yes, that's how old Julio Franco is. Aaron Gleeman is a freelance writer whose work can also be found regularly at AaronGleeman.com, Fox Sports, Rotoworld, and Insider Baseball. He welcomes comments, questions, and suggestions via e-mail. Commenting is not available in this weblog entry. Do you have a general question or comment for one of THT's writers? Send it in to our weekly mailbag We also welcome unsolicited op-ed pieces of approximately 500 words for consideration. We reserve the right to edit for length, clarity and consistency of style. Please include your whole name and location to be considered. If you have a comment about this specific article, please email the writer. Next Article: Game in Review: Brewers at Pirates>> <<Previous Article: Around the Majors: Ramirez hits #400 | ||||
