According to the AP story, When Julio Franco played first base for Atlanta a few days ago he became the oldest position player since 1980. I'm not whether the oldest pitcher is the Mets John Franco, which would be an odd coincidence. What caught my attention was how much younger Julio is than me. Another sign of age, getting to be older than the oldest active baseball player.

When I was a kid all those players were grownups. Then they were young men, like I was. It's a young man's game, isn't it? Way back in 1993 Nolan Ryan was still throwing fastballs past other young men, at least occassionally, and I was even younger than Nolan. But at the end of the year he retired and suddenly, I was older than every active ballplayer.

Hard to keep thinking of yourself as young when that happens. Still, Minnie Minoso got to bat when he was 57 and Satchell Paige pitched a few innings at 59, even if they were promotional stunts. So perhaps I'm not entirely over the hill.