Quinquagenarians in Major League Baseball

A quinquagenarian is a long word to describe someone who is in their 50s. In MLB history, only six players have made an appearance in a regular season game at age 50 or older. I started a mini-collection of such players a while back and thought today I would share the major leaguers who made it past 50. All of these players, not surprisingly, only appeared in a handful of games or less after they turned 50. 

Satchel Paige

Last MLB appearance: 1965 (age 59)

Paige played four seasons at the AAA level during his 50s, three with the Miami Marlins (Phillies affiliate) and one with the Portland Beavers (Cardinals affiliate). Of all the players appearing in MLB during their 50s, Paige clearly had the best resume. 

Charley O'Leary

Last MLB appearance: 1934 (age 58)

O'Leary made just one appearance with the 1934 St. Louis Browns, as a pinch hitter. He made the most of it, recording a single and scoring a run. 

Nick Altrock

Last MLB appearance: 1933 (age 57)

Altrock made three single game appearances during his 50s with the Washington Senators, in 1929, 1931, and 1933.

Minnie Minoso

Last MLB appearance: 1980 (age 56)

From Minoso's SABR biography: In 1976 (White Sox owner Bill Veeck) hired Miñoso as a coach, then talked him into playing a game as a DH at age 50. Miñoso went hitless against the California Angels in four at-bats. One day later, he singled as a pinch-hitter. He remained with the team as a coach through 1978, and reappeared in a White Sox uniform in 1980, making two official plate appearances to join Nick Altrock as baseball’s only five-decade players.

Minnie Miñoso – Society for American Baseball Research (sabr.org)

Jim O'Rourke

Last MLB appearance: 1904 (age 54) 

From O'Rourke's SABR Biography: With the New York Giants on the verge of their first pennant since 1889, manager John McGraw summoned O’Rourke, the last active member of that old championship team, to catch the title clincher. And the old warrior did not disappoint, handling Joe McGinnity over all nine innings of a 7-5 victory over Cincinnati. He even went 1-for-4 at the plate.

Jim O’Rourke – Society for American Baseball Research (sabr.org)

Jack Quinn

Last MLB appearance: 1933 (age 50)

Quinn appeared in 14 games for the Reds in 1933. He was released just two weeks after his 50th birthday. This card is a reprint, but I've been interested in acquiring a Goudey card, so the original copy of this one might be a candidate for that pursuit. 

Honorable mention goes to two players, both favorites of mine, who were productive through their age 49 season, but didn't stay in the league until age 50: Hoyt Wilhelm and Jamie Moyer. Wilhelm threw his final pitch just a couple weeks shy of his 50th birthday. Part of me wants to add these two guys to this collection. I'll have to think about it. 

Stay tuned for my list of players who made a minor league appearance at age 50 or older.

A Hall of Fame Bunch

For a while now, I've been plugging away at a new project: A Hall of Fame Frankenset. Every card #1 to #799 features a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame. The set is actually complete in the sense that there is a card in every slot. But there are a couple of "upgrades" I'm now trying to make on the set:

Balancing the representation of players in the set. For example, right now I believe Sandy Koufax has two cards in the set and Carlton Fisk has 11. So, there's some work to do in that area.

Adding some vintage cards to the binder. I am now on the lookout for affordable vintage cards of Hall of Famers. The acquisitions below should arrive in a few weeks from COMC. I was able to get them all for $2.50 or less. Most were less than $2. 

With these additions, I'm closing in on 100 cards in the set that were issued before 1980. Not too shabby I'd say. The oldest card in the set, if you're curious, is a 1951 Bowman Billy Southworth. 

There are a couple of cards featuring multiple players, one of which is card #731. 

My goal is to have no multi-player cards, but I'd have to replace it with this one, which I can't find any cheaper than $6.25 right now, and I can't justify paying that for this card: 

This has arguably been my favorite project I've ever worked on, and I think it will be an ongoing project. I recently snagged some vintage Hall of Famers from Diamond Jesters' Time Travel Trade that should arrive any day now, and I picked up another (Tony Perez) from Nick from Dime Boxes in a giveaway he did for his 11th blogiversary:

I also claimed a replacement from my Minnie Minoso player collection, because that 1977 Topps card went into the Hall of Fame Frankenset. The other gem of the group was my first Grover Alexander Cubs card. And the Billy Williams was a throw in. Thanks Nick!