What does a world look like without Julio Franco playing major league baseball? I have no frame of reference. Julio, my favorite player of all-time, retired a little over a week ago at the ripe old age of 49. He'd been playing pro ball since 1982, two years before I, a COLLEGE GRADUATE, was even born. He played for nine major league teams, made three all-star teams, amassed around 4200 hits (if you include his time abroad), was the oldest player ever to hit a grand slam and the oldest player to hit a home run, was the last player to face a pitcher who'd faced Ted Williams, and countless other feats. ESPN Page 2 recently posted an article about the amazing Julio, the one-time party animal turned indescribably-disciplined born-again Christian.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Julio, How I Love Thee
What does a world look like without Julio Franco playing major league baseball? I have no frame of reference. Julio, my favorite player of all-time, retired a little over a week ago at the ripe old age of 49. He'd been playing pro ball since 1982, two years before I, a COLLEGE GRADUATE, was even born. He played for nine major league teams, made three all-star teams, amassed around 4200 hits (if you include his time abroad), was the oldest player ever to hit a grand slam and the oldest player to hit a home run, was the last player to face a pitcher who'd faced Ted Williams, and countless other feats. ESPN Page 2 recently posted an article about the amazing Julio, the one-time party animal turned indescribably-disciplined born-again Christian.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I know what you're saying.
I'm a little older than you, but for as long as I've been watching baseball, there's been Julio. Or, as we used to say at Tribe games, Hooooooooooooooo-lio! I used to try so hard to get every one of his baseball cards. I still have a ton of them, but not much new since his second stint with the Indians.
I wish he could've stuck around in the U.S. so he could've hit some bigger milestones, including 3,000 (MLB) hits. And I remember being really mad that the strike robbed him of his first 100+ RBI season. I was all set to go see him play in Cincinnati last year, then the Mets cut him about one week before their series. That was pretty disappointing, too. Of course, it also was disappointing that he didn't make it to his 50th birthday.
Well, hopefully we'll see him sometime soon as a coach or manager somewhere. I'll be on the lookout.
Post a Comment