Old Guys in Minor League Baseball

Recently, I shared my mini-collection of players who appeared in a MLB game at age 50 or older, a list of just six players. I don't know of a comprehensive list of minor league players who played in their 50s, so the list I'm providing here is undoubtedly incomplete. Please let me know if you know of any missing players who played in affiliated or independent minor league baseball in their 50s. I'd greatly appreciate your assistance!

Ted "Double Duty" Radcliffe

Last Appearance: 1999 (age 96) 

Double Duty earned his nickname after pitching one game of a doubleheader and catching another. The Schaumburg Flyers brought Radcliffe in for a token appearance in 1999, allowing him to throw a single pitch in a game. According to his biography, Radcliffe also played for the Winnipeg Giants during his age 50 season in 1952.

Bill Lee

Last Appearance: 2012 (age 65)

Lee has played a lot of baseball since his MLB days. The last appearance in organized baseball I could find was Lee's appearance in 2014 pitching a game for the Sonoma Stompers of the independent Pacific Association. 

Julio Franco

Last Appearance: 2014 (age 55)

Franco had a long major league career that ended at age 49. He later played in seven games for the Fort Worth Cats of the independent United League in 2014.

Joe McGinnity

Last Appearance: 1925 (age 54)

"Iron Man" McGinnity last pitched for the Springfield Senators of the Class B Illinois-Indiana-Iowa League in 1925.

Rafael Palmeiro

Last Appearance: 2018 (age 53)

Palmeiro last played for the Cleburne Railroaders of the independent Northern League in 2018. He joined his son Patrick on the roster and appeared in 31 games, batting .301. His team came to Fargo to play that season, but I believe he was on the bench for the game I attended that year when the Redhawks played against Cleburne.

Jose Canseco

Last Appearance: 2018 (age 53)

Canseco made several token minor league appearances after age 50. The final time, he played in a three-game series for the Normal Cornbelters of the independent Frontier League in 2018, going hitless in three at-bats, striking out each time. 

Arlie Latham

Last Appearance: 1911 (age 51)

At age 49, Latham appeared in a few games for the New York Giants in 1909, a year in which he served as the team's third base coach. After the 1911 season, he appeared in an exhibition series for the Giants played in Cuba, so that's why I'm including him here. 

James "Truck" Hannah

Last Appearance: 1940 (age 51)

Hannah's last appearance was with the Memphis Chickasaws of the Class A1 Southern Association. He was born in North Dakota, which is the reason I have this 1931 Zeenut card. I also have an autograph collection of native North Dakotans who have played in the major leagues, and Hannah is included in that collection:

Roger Clemens

Last Appearance: 2012 (age 50)

Clemens pitched in two games for the Sugar Land Skeeters of the independent Atlantic League in 2012.

Hod Lisenbee

Last Appearance: 1949 (age 50)

Lisenbee pitched in 13 games for the Class D Clarksville Colts of the Kentucky-Illinois-Tennessee League in 1949. 

Grover Hartley

Last Appearance: 1939 (age 50)

Hartley caught one game for the Class D Findlay Oilers of the Ohio State League in 1939.

I'm still on the lookout for cards for these two players:

• Norman "Kid" Elberfeld - made a pinch-hit appearance at age 61 with the Fulton Eagles of the Class D Kentucky-Illinois-Tennessee (Kitty) League in 1936.
• Ollie Pickering - last appeared at age 52 with the Paducah Indians of the Class D Kentucky-Illinois-Tennessee (Kitty) League in 1922.

I primarily used baseball-reference.com for this research, so if you know of any of these players playing later than what I reported here, please let me know! Also, if you know of any other 50+ year olds that have played in the minors, feel free to drop a comment below. 

A Few Frankenset Pages and Some Odds and Ends

"I should really post something. Anything." This has been the refrain going through my head for quite some time. As usual, I've had a lot going on card-wise, and it gets hard to know what to highlight. 

The last month or so, I have begun trading on Trading Card Database (TCDB) and have been very active getting cards that I have been chasing for a while, as well as jettisoning some of mine that I have no attachment to. To me, that's the great thing about trading on TCDB, and really about trading in general. But the site has a great trade matching feature, so once you get a good base of cards added to your want list and your "For Sale/Trade" list, it's pretty easy to get some trades going. I thought it would be a lot of work to get these lists started, and it has been to a point, but it's been worth it. I couldn't even begin to highlight some of the great cards I've traded for in the last month, and I won't miss anything that I traded away. It's a great deal. 

But today, I want to go back in time to my neglected Frankenset (the completed one, not the one I'm working on as priority #13 or so in my collection). I've put some more scans of pages on my Frankenset page, and wanted to highlight a couple of favorite cards from those pages. 

Card #100: 1990 CMC Iowa Cubs - The Lesser Known Brian McCann:

Card #132: 1993 Upper Deck Fun Pack - Mike Devereaux

I remember Devereaux being a slow defender in Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball for the Super Nintendo. But he was actually a good fielder by defensive WAR metrics and stole 10 bases in 1992. Also, if you were curious, my research indicates #2 is Mark McLemore.

Card #139: 1990 CMC Nashville Sounds - Paul Noce

Another entry from the 1990 CMC minor league set. This is a classic card with a fun backstory. 

Card #140: 1994 Upper Deck - Jose Canseco

Canseco has several fun and unique cards from his career. Not sure what he plans to do with that shovel, but at least he doesn't look angry.

Someday, I might get all of my Frankenset pages uploaded for your viewing pleasure (including pages 12 to 14, which you may have noticed are missing if you followed the link above). At this pace, it might be sometime in 2029. 

Role-Reversal: My Favorite Frankenset Card by Page; Page 6 (Cards 55-63)

It's time for another installment of my favorite Frankenset card (by page), where I show off my Frankenset by giving you my top three favorite cards from each page of the Frankenset. Let's jump right in.

3) 1981 Topps #62, Joe Pettini

This card is a beautiful convergence of the 1970s and 1980s.

2) 1992 Donruss Triple Play #63, Rickey Henderson

The 1992 Donruss Triple Play set has some great Frankenset material. The makers of the set clearly were trying to be a little bit off the wall in an attempt to cater to a young audience. I'm a little torn about what I think about their approach, but I think I'm ok with it. One of the main reasons why is the fact that this was the middle of the overproduction era and this was kind of a fringe set, so why not do something a little different. I mean, you had both Upper Deck and Leaf in 1992 basically copy their 1991 design, and none of the other card makers really did anything too exciting in my opinion that year. So Triple Play's strange pictures and odd subsets work for me in that context. 

On page five of the Frankenset, we saw an entry from the Triple Play set, and now have another. It's a bit puzzling, though, to use an odd photo for a player of the caliber of Rickey Henderson. For Pat Kelly, sure. But Rickey had just broken the career stolen base record the season prior, so you'd think there would have been an opportunity there.

1) 1994 Score #61, Jose Canseco

The scene was Fenway Park, May 29, 1993. With shadows overtaking the field and the Rangers desperately behind in their game against the Red Sox, slugger Jose Canseco asks his manager Kevin Kennedy for a chance to pitch. In his first and only major league pitching appearance, Canseco pitches the 8th inning, allowing three hits, three runs, and three walks as the Rangers fall 15 to 1. 

This game was just three days after what was perhaps Canseco's most famous (or infamous) highlight. On May 26, Carlos Martinez of the Indians hit a deep fly ball to right field that Canseco misplayed. The ball hit him on the top of the head and bounced over the fence for a home run. It was quite a stretch of three days for Mr. Canseco. 

Remarkably, after the pitching appearance on the 29th, Canseco began having elbow trouble and would have Tommy John surgery six weeks later. He missed the remainder of the 1993 season. 

In fact, as I learned from the back of this card and confirmed with some additional research, Jose's career was considered to be in jeopardy as a result of the injury. Of course, he made it back to have several more solid seasons in MLB.

Here's a look at Jose Canseco's mound performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iufXBbwtUk

Which of these was your favorite from page six?

My Favorite Frankenset Card by Page; Page 1 (Cards 1-9)

I'd like to introduce you to my Frankenset (in progress). I won't bore you here with the details of how I pick the cards for the set (if you do want to be bored by that, go here!). Instead, I want to give you a taste of some of my favorite cards, one page at a time. So why not begin with page one?

Page one features some gems:

• Jose Canseco in a Devil Rays uniform courtesy of a set apparently called Fleer Impact. This was before the "Devil" was taken out of Tampa. 

2000 Fleer Impact #2, Jose Canseco

• Ellis Burks with a glove on his head, because why wouldn't you wear your glove on your head? Especially when you spent the previous year hitting .344 with 40 homeruns. Then you can do pretty much anything you want. Well maybe not anything you want. But when you ALSO knock in 128 runs and steal 32 bases, then I think doing anything you want is back on the table as an option.

1997 Score, Colorado Rockies Team Edition #4 of 15, Ellis Burks

But the pick of the litter for page one is a card with a haunting, ghostly image of a Hall of Famer.

.................................................


A man you almost certainly don't associate with the team for which he is pictured.


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A left-hander with well over 300 wins.


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A Minnesota Twin (although only briefly).


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And here he is!

1988 Fleer

Card #7

I just stare at this card and think, did that really happen? Was Steve Carlton really a Minnesota Twin? Yes, yes he was. And he pitched terribly for them, unfortunately. He hung it up after an April 23, 1988 outing where he gave up eight earned runs over five innings of work. I was only a toddler at the time, so I would be curious to know how baseball fans from the time remember Steve Carlton. As the ace of the Phillies for a decade and a half, or as the journeyman who spent the final three years of his career trying in vain to recapture his old glory? This card says so much, and thus, it is my favorite card from page one.