A Baseball Legend Hangs Up His Spikes

I’m going to “dust off the memory banks” a bit here and delve into sports, which I haven’t done for a little while (sorry, but I just can’t deal with super delegates, declining home sales, a dead ice cream salesman, or the fact that almost 19,000 Indianans - ? – actually voted for Willard Mitt Romney in the Repug primary yesterday).

It’s going to take a minute or two for me to set this up; I’ll move it along as fast as I can.

In 1982, I was still a pretty avid area sports fan (much less so now, though I’m still interested to a point), and it mattered to me whether or not the Phillies actually had a shot at the World Series (they ended up getting there in ’83, though they then lost to the Baltimore Orioles). But back then, the team’s “brain trust” was composed of four individuals: owner Bill Giles, GM/manager Paul Owens, head scout Hugh Alexander, and a certain “Jack Daniels” if you will; the news about this fourth “representative” came out later, though it was plain that something was wrong with that team’s trades, such as acquiring a serviceable but forgettable shortstop named Ivan DeJesus for just-about-done veteran Larry Bowa and a “throw-in” named Ryne Sandberg, who starred with the Chicago Cubs for years before retiring and being honored with entry into the Hall of Fame.

Well anyway, these characters in the team’s management decided that they wanted to acquire a player from the Cleveland Indians in ’82 named Von Hayes and play him in right field. The three (with the aid of the fourth, of course) got it into their heads that Hayes was the second coming of Ted Williams. And it was true that Hayes could hit, field, run and throw with the very best (today, he would probably be considered a “five-tool player,” or someone with that potential).

So the Phillies decided to trade five players for Hayes (the “Five-For-One” nickname hung over Hayes like a millstone for years; he had a decent run with the team for awhile before age and injury ended his career). They were second baseman Manny Trillo (he had not quite declined to the extent Bowa had – both were members of the 1980 championship team – but he was getting there), outfielder George Vukovich, catcher Jerry Willard, and someone named Irusha Peiris (lost to obscurity apparently; can’t find a thing on any of the search engines).

And the fifth player in the trade was Julio Franco, who started out with the Phillies as a shortstop, though before his career ended, he would also play second and first base and as a designated hitter on a regular basis.

He played with Cleveland for five years before he was traded to the Texas Rangers, where he played from 1989 to 1993 (coinciding with the period when a certain individual served as the team’s managing general partner, and would that he had stayed in that job and forsaken politics – you knew I’d find a way to mention Dubya, didn’t you?). While with Texas, Franco was named to the American League All-Star team three times, and he was the game’s MVP in 1990, driving in the winning runs off flame-throwing Cincinnati reliever Rob Dibble. Other highlights from Franco’s career include winning the AL batting title in 1991 (Hayes was a National League All-Star in 1989).

Franco played overseas in the ‘90s in Japan and South Korea, sandwiched in between stints with the Chicago White Sox, Cleveland (again), Milwaukee and Tampa Bay before he returned to the National League in 2001 with Atlanta (the Braves purchased his contract from a team in Mexico City where he played briefly). At this point, Franco played first base, primarily.

In 2004, Franco replaced Cap Anson as the oldest position player in the history of major league baseball. Franco is also the oldest player ever to hit a grand slam, a pinch-hit home run, two home runs in one game, and to steal two bases in a game (and stealing from the Wikipedia article some more)…

On July 29, 2006, against the Atlanta Braves, Julio Franco became the oldest player ever to pinch run, when he came in for Carlos Delgado after Delgado was hit by pitch. On September 19, 2006, a day after the Mets clinched the division title, Franco started at third base in a game against the Florida Marlins. This was Franco's first start at the position since his rookie year, an astonishing 24 years between starts at the position. [2]

Last Friday May 2nd, Franco, 49, officially announced his retirement from baseball to his Mexican league team, the Quintana Roo Tigers. He leaves baseball with a total of 4,229 career hits; the only other players with more hits are Pete Rose and Ty Cobb.

With a career like that, I can’t think of any reason why Franco shouldn’t join Ryne Sandberg in Cooperstown. And for good measure, his introduction speech should be given by Bill Giles.