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. 

Bill Clemens, We Hardly Knew Ye

One thing I always liked about the early Donruss baseball cards was the full player's name appearing on the backs of the cards. It was just a quirky detail that someone like me enjoys. It was always interesting to see a player's full name, especially if their first name was a nickname or if they went by their middle name. A couple of my favorite players, Ryne Sandberg and Mark Grace, have the middle names Dee and Eugene respectively. I wouldn't know that without the Donruss cards. These cards also told us that Kirby Puckett was the Twins star's full legal name, as is the case for the now infamous Jose Canseco.

But back to those guys who went by something other than their first name. Did you know there are actually a lot of them? And not just random scrub players, but some of the biggest stars of the 80s and 90s. I looked through some 1990 Donruss cards to appreciate the beautiful design (sarcasm, of course) and to see if I could find some players who went by their middle name. I didn't even look at that many and still found several examples. So I'll present those here, in quiz format, because the former teacher in me can't help himself. But if you can't stand the quiz format, just scroll down to see the players/cards in question.

I also had some 88 and 91 Donruss nearby, so I found a couple of the examples from those sets. And now, the quiz:

1) Which member of the 1998 NL Champion Padres went by his middle name?

A) Tony Gwynn

B) Ken Caminiti

C) Greg Vaughn

D) Kevin Brown

2) Which Twins ace preferred his middle name?

A) Jim Kaat

B) Bert Blyleven

C) Johan Santana

D) Frank Viola

3) Which member of the 1993 World Series Champion Toronto Blue Jays went by a version of his middle name?

A) Rickey Henderson

B) Tony Fernandez

C) John Olerud

D) Joe Carter

4) Which Hall of Fame pitcher was known by his middle name?

A) Nolan Ryan

B) Phil Niekro

C) Don Sutton

D) Greg Maddux

5) Which pitcher who debuted in the 1980s preferred his middle name?

A) Orel Hershiser

B) Tom Glavine

C) Fernando Valenzuela

D) Roger Clemens

6) Which long-time Mariners slugger goes by his middle name?

A) Ken Griffey Jr.

B) Jay Buhner

C) Alvin Davis

D) Edgar Martinez

I think you'll be surprised by some of these. I know I was, and I'm sure I had seen them all at some point in my life. There are undoubtedly more examples than these (I'm looking at you George Thomas Seaver!), so feel free to leave your examples in the comments below. Anyway, many thanks to our favorite cards of the Overproduction Era, 1988, 1990, and 1991 Donruss. 

1) Which member of the 1998 NL Champion Padres went by his middle name?

A) Tony Gwynn

B) Ken Caminiti

C) Greg Vaughn

D) Kevin Brown

1990 Donruss #343 James "Kevin" Brown

Easy to understand Kevin's decision to go with the middle name. He could have gone with James Brown, risking confusion with the Godfather of Soul. He could have been Jim Brown, knowing he'd be associated with arguably the best football player of all time. He could have been Jimmy Brown, but that just doesn't seem to fit. So Kevin it is!

2) Which Twins ace preferred his middle name?

A) Jim Kaat

B) Bert Blyleven

C) Johan Santana

D) Frank Viola

1990 Donruss #331 Rik ("Bert") Aalbert Blyleven

It worked out alright for 7'4" NBAer Rik Smits to go by his given name when he entered the NBA in the 1980s. Fellow Dutchman Blyleven, however, came to America with his family in the mid-50s, so maybe America wasn't ready for a Rik at that time. 

Additional notes:

1) I think that mark on the card is Donruss puzzle glue stain or something. So the Donruss equivalent to a gum stain.

2) Blyleven was traded to the Angels with Kevin Trudeau. Wonder if it's the same Kevin Trudeau who went to jail after peddling those "Cures THEY Don't Want You to Know About" books.

3) Which member of the 1993 World Series Champion Toronto Blue Jays went by a version of his middle name?

A) Rickey Henderson

B) Tony Fernandez

C) John Olerud

D) Joe Carter

1988 Donruss #319 Octavio Antonio "Tony" Fernandez

Tony, who in my mind is quite underrated, passed away in February. If you ask me, Octavio is pretty cool. Certainly worked for Octavio Dotel. That guy played for 13 teams! 

4) Which Hall of Fame pitcher was known by his middle name?

A) Nolan Ryan

B) Phil Niekro

C) Don Sutton

D) Greg Maddux

1990 Donruss #166 Nolan Ryan

Can you imagine Nolan Ryan going by Lynn? Neither can I.

5) Which pitcher who debuted in the 1980s preferred his middle name?

A) Orel Hershiser

B) Tom Glavine

C) Fernando Valenzuela

D) Roger Clemens

1991 Donruss #81 William "Roger" Clemens

I wonder if Clemens was the guy Sheryl Crow was singing about in "All I Wanna Do." In the song, she meets a William whom she is sure went by "Bill or Billy or Mack or Buddy." No Sheryl, he went by Roger. Which works, I think, because Bill Clemens just doesn't have the same ring to it. 

6) Which long-time Mariners slugger goes by his middle name?

A) Ken Griffey Jr.

B) Jay Buhner

C) Alvin Davis

D) Edgar Martinez

1990 Donruss #365 George (Ken) Kenneth Griffey Jr.

Let's let this one sink in for a minute. 

George Griffey Jr... 

GEORGE. 

If the most marketable baseball player of the last half century would have gone by his given name, would he have been as marketable? I don't think so. I guess we have the original George Kenneth Griffey (Sr.) to thank for that, since he's the guy who went by Ken to begin with. 

Really, these guys all had pretty normal first names, but apparently just chose to go with their middle name, probably for a variety of reasons. But I don't think that was to case for everyone. Why, you ask? Because of Andy Hawkins. Who is Andy Hawkins? A middle of the road pitcher with a couple good seasons who spent 10 seasons in the bigs. Win/loss of 84-91, 4.22 ERA, 1.3 WAR. Pretty much your run of the mill major leaguer. I don't really have a great grasp on how it's calculated, but I feel like going by this first name would somehow drop you like 10 points in the WAR formula.

1989 Donruss Traded #T-52 Melton (Andy) Andrew Hawkins

Poor Melton.