Well, it sounds like Julio Franco is finally going to be retiring - too bad it's against his will. Nobody seems to be very interested in a first baseman who will be 50 at the end of the season (DOB 8/23/1958).
Franco had his MLB debut on April 23, 1982 for the Phillies. At the time I was 4 months and 9 days old.
His (presumably) last at bat was on September 17, 2007. 25 years 4 months and 25 days elapsed in between. That's just stunning. He's been playing ball with people who are significantly younger than his career. I can picture him at his 30 year high school reunion. All of his classmates are showing pictures of grandchildren taking first steps, talking about recent vacations and so forth, while he reeks of pine tar, is preoccupied with an impending 14 game west coast road trip starting next week and won't shut up about situational lefties. Stupid, stupid situational lefties.
What are some possible explanations for this behavior? I would like to advance two theories: 1) He owes some bookie somewhere a lot of money. 2) He's waiting for social security to kick in. (Too bad he's Dominican. Don't say anything to him, though.)
Feel free to contribute your own hypothesis.
