Durable Old Guys
Posted by Steve Lombardi on November 1, 2007
Today, I found myself wondering how "old guys" (in baseball terms of being old) have played (pretty much) full seasons - and, who did it the most? So, I went to Baseball-Reference.com's Play Index Batting Season Finder and set it for: From 1901 to 2007, From Age 35 to 99, (requiring G>=140). Looking at the results, I noticed that only a dozen players have pulled this off, five times or more:
Player ages are computed as their age on June 30th
From To Ages Seasons Link to Individual Seasons
+-----------------+----+----+-----+-------+------------------------------+
Craig Biggio 2001 2007 35-41 7 Ind. Seasons
Pete Rose 1976 1983 35-42 7 Ind. Seasons
Darrell Evans 1982 1988 35-41 6 Ind. Seasons
Sam Rice 1925 1930 35-40 6 Ind. Seasons
Omar Vizquel 2002 2007 35-40 5 Ind. Seasons
Rafael Palmeiro 2000 2004 35-39 5 Ind. Seasons
Steve Finley 2000 2004 35-39 5 Ind. Seasons
Edgar Martinez 1998 2004 35-41 5 Ind. Seasons
Dave Winfield 1987 1993 35-41 5 Ind. Seasons
Carl Yastrzemski 1975 1979 35-39 5 Ind. Seasons
Doc Cramer 1941 1945 35-39 5 Ind. Seasons
Rabbit Maranville 1929 1933 37-41 5 Ind. Seasons
Biggio and Rose stand out here, at the top, with seven seasons each. And, Omar Vizquel has an outside chance to tie them. I would have expected to see Rose here - and, if I thought hard enough, maybe I would have guessed Biggio. But, Vizquel was an interesting find for me. I would have not thought of him as being so high on this list.
November 1st, 2007 at 4:17 pm
Nice work. I've often thought of Biggio as a Rose-type player. David Eckstein is another Rose-type player. The difference is that Eckstein can only play like Rose in small streaks.
An addition to your list should be Cap Anson. Although I detest his racist choices in life, I want to give credit where credit is due. Anson played in an era when teams rarely played 140 games in a season. So let's pro-rate it for him. 140/154=91%. So at 35 and after, how many seasons did Anson play in at least 91% of his team games? 1887, 1888, 1889, 1890, 1891, 1892, 1895. That's seven, just like Rose and Biggio.
P.S. Try to estimate how many lifetime runs, hits and RBIs Anson would have had if he played 154 game schedules throughout his career.
November 1st, 2007 at 4:26 pm
A 41-year-old rabbit!
November 2nd, 2007 at 7:29 am
Eckstein can really only play like Rose if you look at him on a play-by-play basis. Don't insult Pete, or Craig Biggio 🙁
There are a lot more David Eckstein-type players than Pete Rose-type players, but I don't think it has much to do with durability, just skill level
November 2nd, 2007 at 8:25 am
I'm waiting to toast Omar V. for becoming the all-time leader in games played at shortstop. It won't be many more.
November 2nd, 2007 at 11:11 am
David in Toledo, do you have a source for current fielding records and leaders? As far as I know, Baseball-reference doesn't have fielding leaders. Does (or will) BR's Play Index have access to fielding numbers? I really enjoy seeing season and lifetime leaders in fielding categories.
http://www.baseball-stats-online.com/ has a searchable fielding leaders database, but it only goes through 2005. By the way, Rabbit Maranville (listed above) is 8th in all-time games at shortstop (at least through 2005). Vizquel is only 11 games now behind Aparicio.
November 2nd, 2007 at 11:13 am
What's amazing about Rose is that he played Rose-like for over 3000 games. Whereas, Eckstein plays Rose-like in tiny spurts. Just gives me a reminder of how sensational a player Rose was.
November 2nd, 2007 at 1:16 pm
He was also ten times the hitter, but I know what you're saying.
November 6th, 2007 at 10:03 am
Kingturtle asked in #5 above about fielding records. I'm using the SABR Baseball list and record book (published 2007). It lists Luis Aparicio as 2581 for most career games by a shortstop. This wonderful site (B-R.com) shows Omar Vizquel at 2570 (11 shy).
Similarly, Ty Cobb played the most games as an outfielder 2934. Barry Bonds is at 2877 (57 to go). Carlton Fisk (2226) and Bob Boone (2225) lead Ivan Rodriguez (2061). I-Rod will need two more seasons, at ages 36 and 37.
The existence of the DH makes it less likely that such career longevity records at one position will be broken regularly -- unless you're really stubborn, like Fisk. A good old hitter can become a DH.