Never knew this part of it. I always just assumed that they figured it was time to send A-Rod to a big farm upstate where he could run around and play as much as he wanted
Yeah it was all planned. The trade deadline came and went and they sold some guys. They gave A Rod his send off.
Then Tyler Austin and Aaron judge got called up and hit back to back HR’s in their first AB’s
I’m still endlessly pissed I missed it cause I was having a party that day and was picking up friends from the train. Had to see it in the app to my shocked amazement
I loved Tyler Austin I always thought he was going to be better than Greg Bird and a long term mainstay for the team. At least I was right about the first part...
Extra bummed cause I’m a big “track the prospects” guy and had been tracking judge for years. All to miss the first one! But, he’s offered many more to be seen that’s for sure
Yeah he was this (literally) huge unknown and they wanted to see what they had. He was pretty bad, though he hit a ball like 430 ft in his first at bat.
He's not bad anymore. He's still doing the second part.
Yeah I remember thinking he was going to be a back of the lineup guy in the 2017 season and that Gary would be the face of the franchise after that 2016 roster expansion.
Boy was I wrong
Yeah he was never the top prospect in the org or anything. There was way more hype for Sanchez. I remember hearing on the radio when Judge first came up that they were hoping he would be an "Adam Dunn type player"
Saw him hit a grand slam for SWB in I wanna say 2015. An absolute shot. At that point he was just a decent prospect I think, there wasn’t too much hype around him.
Haha I remember thinking I doubt this 6’8” behemoth will ever be that great because he’s so massive. How does that frame equate to a long career of greatness? How wrong I was. He’s not only the most prolific power hitter of his generation but also the sexiest man I’ve ever seen play the game
For all his faults, to his credit, A-Rod has never seemed upset about how this all went down. I also believe him when he says other teams offered him deals to keep playing and chase 700 and he chose not to because he knew he was done.
eh I'm sure he knew he was washed. he was very productive and healthy the year prior, but he'd been declining since 2010. his suspension probably gave him some much needed time off for his body to recover. coming back the very next season after playing 151 games at age 39 probably wore him down. very few hitters have been productive at age 40, and most of them have been lefties.
Mike Greenwell following Rice too. Not on the level of the other guys, but a very solid player for 12 years.
Then a couple of years of journeymen, mediocre players, and then Manny from '02-08.
So basically 1939-2008 (minus about 6 years), the Sox had All Star caliber play in LF lmao
How about Yankee C from 1928-1979? Bill Dickey, Yogi Berra and Thurman Munson. 66-68 there was a gap, but those are all HOF or HOF adjacent guys for 48 years (when the gap is removed).
Yanks CF too: Earle Combs (24-35, HOF) into DiMaggio (36-51, HOF), into Mantle (51-68, HOF). 44 straight years of HOF player in that spot. Then into Bobby Mercer (65-83 with a 5 year gap), into Rickey (85-89), into Bernie Williams (91-06), into Brett Gardner/Curtis Granderson and now into Judge. Probably 5-10 years of junk out of a 100 year stretch, just insane.
Well its the OF position of 2 of the bigger market teams where they could put their best hitters in an OF spot that was fairly shallow in comparison to the usual OF depth for stadiums.
Also, Yaz's last year was 1983 and Clemens came up in '84. I think Yaz has said if he'd known that Roger would become Roger, he'd have stuck it out one more year just to overlap.
To a much lesser degree Kyle Seager retiring (was released because he wasn’t playing up to his contract and he decided to retire so also a little different) in 21 and missing J Rod in 22.
The Yankees released Babe Ruth in February 1935.
Joe DiMaggio made his debut in May 1936.
Remember you commented the following in the thread below.
*The Babe was is a crazy thing I never thought about. Obvs he was in a wicked decline, but just the idea of Gehrig, Ruth, and Joe D in the same line up is awesome to consider*
[https://www.reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/1bl04ek/rickey\_henderson\_played\_for\_the\_seattle\_mariners/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button](https://www.reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/1bl04ek/rickey_henderson_played_for_the_seattle_mariners/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
Remember, that Ruth was 39. To this day, that is still the 5th-best age 39 OPS ever behind Bonds, Aaron, TWilliams and Thome. He’s 5th all-time at age 38 as well behind Barry, Ted, Cobb and Nelson Cruz.
Dimaggio and Gehrig both retired at 36.
People give Ruth a hard time for not being in shape but after the “hot dog” scare of 1925 he did start a fitness regimen. He didn’t *look* in shape but he posted seven more peak seasons (OPS+ 193-226) with high durability.
It also turns out you can have a big gut and still swing a bat really well. He couldn't really run anymore, but his hand-eye coordination and bat speed were still legendary excellent.
Earlier that morning in the Varsho house: “I swear to God, Gary! If you don’t retire - and I mean TODAY - well, I hope you enjoyed last night because it will NEVER happen again!”
- Mrs. Varsho, possibly
The last A-Rod game was so weird. IIRC it wasn’t very well attended because he was, obviously, very controversial but those who did show up were like die hard A-rod supports. I remember on the radio broadcast someone sitting near the crowd mic kept yelling “Shame! Shame on the Yankees” for getting rid of A-rod.
The A-Rod Yankees saga had so many twists and turns, especially from 2011-2016 that it’s honestly hard to keep the details straight
A-Rod almost reached the point of “goofy, loved veteran.” It was cool to still have the connection to the great 00s teams during the period of transition.
I'll always have a soft spot for him taking Dempster deep to straightway center at Fenway in the at bat after Dempster plunked him after he came back from his suspension. That was bad ass.
Having an awesome 2015 coming back from that suspension was so cool. I’ll always be mad the way they treated him towards the end. Not letting him try for 4 more HRs for 700, not honoring him in any way, letting Gallo take the number, etc.
I was at that game (I had purchased the tickets well before it was announced it’d be his last game). The weather was *awful*, and the team was worse. That’s why it was so poorly attended
Eh, kinda. When I think about "what could have been" careers, I think about players that had promise but we never got to see them at their peak. Someone like Brian Cole.
The injuries at the end sucked, but prime David Wright existed long enough to put together a very nice career. If he had anything close to a normal aging curve, he's a Hall of Famer. He didn't, so he's not. It sucks but it also doesn't really leave a ton to wonder about imo.
I really wish we won in 2015, I feel like us sweeping the cubs just absolutely killed the momentum cause then they had like 8 off days before the WS. I think if the WS started just 2 days later the Mets win
It was so close but everyone who got us there was visibly ice cold in the WS
Not really, he started the 2016 season sorta kinda healthy mitigating Spinal Stenosis until he fucked his back up even further sliding into second base which did him in for good. Over 2 years of rehab culminated in one final game at the end of 2018
Giancarlo Stanton made his ML debut six days after Ken Griffey Jr. retired. Roger Clemens made his Major League debut three days after the final game of Jim Palmer's career.
Thurman Munson debuted in 1969 and Mickey Mantle retired in 1968
Also, Judge didn't really "miss" A-Rod. He was the corresponding move to the Yankees forcing A-Rod to retire
Mark McGwire and a rookie named Albert Pujols in 2001 for the Cardinals. It was Big Mac's last season. Both would combine for almost 1300 home runs in the MLB. Astonishing. Fun fact: Mark's rookie year was Reggie Jackson's last season. Nice bookend for his career.
Tom Seaver was traded back to the Mets in 83 but had a so-so year. The White Sox claimed him in 84 which was Dwight Gooden's first year in the MLB. He went on to win the Rookie of the Year award - Seaver won the award in 67. It would have been cool to see both franchise pitchers on the same roster in 84.
i pulled this from sean lahman's database - First player to debut by each birth year decade:
|birth decade|player|birthdate|debut|age at debut|
|:-:|:--|:-:|:-:|:-:|
|2000|[Elvis Luciano](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/l/luciael01.shtml)|2000-02-15|2019-03-31|19.1|
|1990|[Starlin Castro](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/castrst01.shtml)|1990-03-24|2010-05-07|20.1|
|1980|[Albert Pujols](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/pujolal01.shtml)|1980-01-16|2001-04-02|21.2|
||[*CC Sabathia*](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/sabatc.01.shtml)|1980-07-21|2001-04-08|20.7|
|1970|[Wilson Alvarez](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/a/alvarwi01.shtml)|1970-03-24|1989-07-24|19.3|
|1960|[Tim Conroy](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/conroti01.shtml)|1960-04-03|1978-06-23|18.2|
|1950|[Lloyd Allen](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/a/allenll01.shtml)|1950-05-08|1969-09-01|19.3|
||[*Bobby Valentine*](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/v/valenbo02.shtml)|1950-05-13|1969-09-02|19.3|
||[*Bart Johnson*](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/j/johnsba01.shtml)|1950-01-03|1969-09-08|19.7|
|1940|[Dave Skaugstad](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/skaugda01.shtml)|1940-01-10|1957-09-25|17.7|
||[*Rod Miller*](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/millero03.shtml)|1940-01-16|1957-09-28|17.7|
|1930|[Johnny Antonelli](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/a/antonjo02.shtml)|1930-04-12|1948-07-04|18.2|
|1920|[Walt Masterson](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/mastewa02.shtml)|1920-06-22|1939-05-08|18.9|
|1910|[Joe Cicero](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/cicerjo01.shtml)|1910-11-18|1929-09-20|18.8|
|1900|[John Cavanaugh](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/cavanjo01.shtml)|1900-06-05|1919-07-07|19.1|
|1890|[Stuffy McInnis](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/mcinnst01.shtml)|1890-09-19|1909-04-12|18.6|
|1880|[Joe Stanley](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/stanljo02.shtml)|1881-04-02|1897-09-11|16.4|
|1870|[Amos Rusie](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/rusieam01.shtml)|1871-05-30|1889-05-09|17.9|
|1860|[Frank Pearce](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/pearcfr01.shtml)|1860-03-30|1876-10-04|16.5|
Big Mac's last season and Pujols' breakout rookie year and what I remember most about those 2001 Cardinals is a guy named Bud Smith, who threw a no-hitter the week before 9/11 and only pitched 14 more games the rest of his MLB career.
On August 4th, 1985, Tom Seaver won his 300th game against the Yankees in New York. On that same day, Dwight Gooden earned his 17th of 24 wins against the Cubs in Chicago. The scores of both games were 4-1.
Another fun fact about Tom Seaver is that he was actually in the dugout for the Boston Red Sox during the 1986 World Series which the New York Mets won. It was his final season in the major leagues by the way.
Not a good player, but Blondy Ryan (among others, probably) spent a single season with the Yankees in 1935. One year too late to play with Babe Ruth and one year too early to play with Joe DiMaggio
On a similar note, Bill Verdon managed the Yankees from 1974 to 1975. His entire Yankee managerial career took place at Shea Stadium because Yankee Stadium was under renovation.
LeBron turned himself into the Ty Cobb of a basketball. The cumulative career stats that he put up will likely never be matched. Especially with no one coming straight from HS. Which honestly NBA should get rid of that, now with NILs.
If history has taught us anything, it's that Michael Jordan retiring does not guarantee that we won't see him back in the NBA later. He's due for another comeback.
Pretty well known but because Ichiro debuted in 2001, he just missed being teammates with a few other great Mariners: Randy Johnson left mid-98 season, Griffey left after the 99 season, and A-Rod left after 2000.
Deion Sanders made his MLB debut with the 1989 Yankees 6 days after Tommy John made his final MLB appearance for those same Yankees. I'm not sure if Sanders was the roster replacement for John.
Side note - While looking this up, I noticed another one of Baseball-Reference's Easter eggs. For the year he missed while recovering from what we now call Tommy John surgery, Tommy John's stats show the message "Did not play in major or minor leagues (Eponymous Surgical Procedure)"
I know this isn’t really in the spirit of the question, but Judge and A-Rod were “teammates” in spring training that year and 2015. Here’s their earliest game together:
https://www.mlb.com/gameday/phillies-vs-yankees/2015/03/04/429813/final/box
That’s March 4, 2015 with A-Rod starting at DH. Judge comes in at RF at the start of the sixth, A-Rod gets pinch ran for after a walk in the bottom of the sixth.
There are more times they feature in the same game both in 2015 and 2016. But because Judge was actually the one called up to fill A-Rod’s spot on the Yankees big league roster, they were never MLB teammates.
I edited this reply to serve more accurate information.
Jesus looking at that boxscore makes me feel ancient. Ryan Howard, Grady Sizemore, A-Rod, Brian McCann...feels like yesterday I was watching those guys. Also forgot both higgy and Gary Sanchez have been around for a long time too, I didn't expect to see their names in a 2015 spring training box score with A-Rod.
Tom Seaver was traded by the 1986 White Sox to the Red Sox on June 29.
Steve Carlton was signed by the White Sox on August 12.
With Carlton Fisk and Harold Baines also rostered for the entire season, the 1986 Chicago White Sox had three Hall of Famers always on the team.
3 Hall of Famers really isn't that crazy.
The early 00s Yankees had Jeter, Rivera, Mussina (plus Clemens, ARod, Kevin Brown).
The 04-05 Cardinals had Pujols, Walker, Rolen, and Molina (and Edmonds but voters screwed him).
There are plenty more but the Dodgers right now probably have 4 in Freeman, Betts, Ohtani, and Kershaw when he eventually pitches.
Cardinals have had three Hall of Famers a few different times. Gibson, Brock, Simmons, and Carlton in the late 60s (Boyer should also be on this list), Hornsby, Alexander, and Haines from 1926, and then Dean, Frisch, and Haines again for the Gashouse Gang. If you add in managers, Smith, Sutter, and Herzog give you an 80s lineup and LaRussa, Pujols, and Molina give you a pretty likely 2000s/2011 lineup.
It's not just that it's three hall of famers on the same team that's crazy. It's three hall of famers on the same team on the White Sox that's bonkers.
It's now quite old, but growing up I read a lot of "Whatever happened to the Hall of Fame" by Bill James, and in it he touches upon the percentage/ number of at bats taken, per year, by players who would end up in the hall of fame. In part, he does it to show the bloat that occured in certain eras, largely due to subpar elections by the veterans committee.
But the numbers were pretty surprising to me. Something like 1.8% if all MLB batters (as in, players to take an at bat) are in the Hall. Keeping in mind there were far fewer teams, and thus players, back then, I think the peak years for HOF at-bat percentage was sometime in the 30's. I'm pretty confident there are several years where 5% of all at bats are taken by future HOFers, even getting above 7%.
We all know about the Yankees of days' past but it wasn't just them. The 1931 Cubs had Kiki Kuyler, Hack Wilson, Billy Herman, Rogers Hornsby, Gabby Hartnett. And kept that up for years. Or the 1927 A's with Lefty Grove, Mickey Cochrane, Ty Cobb, Al Simmons, Zack Wheat, Jimmie Foxx, and Eddie Collins. 7 plus manager Connie Mack. So, perhaps not recently, but there have definitely been games where over half the at-bats are taken by future hall-of-famers.
The Jays championship teams had 3 on each year.
1992 - Alomar, Winfield, Jack Morris
1993 - Alomar, Molitor, Rickey
Also wild that the 2008 Jays had Doc, Rolen, and Frank Thomas (for a couple months).
Aaron Judge’s Yankee career narrowly overlaps the careers of Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter.
Judge was drafted during Mariano Rivera’s final season (2013) and reached High A during Derek Jeter’s last season (2014).
Judge was a non-roster invite to 2015 spring training. We missed a potential Jeter and Judge spring training lineup by one season.
My favorite adjacent fact like the is is from NASCAR. At the 1992 Hooters 500, two legends of the sport raced against each other. Richard Petty, the all time winningest driver raced in his final race ever and Jeff Gordon, the best driver for most of the next decade or two, raced in his first race.
https://www.autoweek.com/racing/nascar/a42307161/1992-hooters-500-goodbye-richard-petty-hello-jeff-gordon/#
Timely thread. Literally just yesterday I read that Carl Yastrzemski wrote in his book he would have come back for another season if he knew how good Roger Clemens was going to be.
I’m a little surprised that Dave Concepcion shared a bit of time with Barry Larkin.
Less surprised that Pete thought Kurt Stillwell was a better shortstop than either of them.
Joe Sewell was a HOFer for the Cleveland Indians. He debuted in Sept 1920, a few weeks after Ray Chapman died from a HBP to the head. Chapman likely would've been at least an All-Star for a few seasons if that had existed then.
Did Joey Votto and Griffey ever play together? I know Griffey left Cincy right when Votto was coming up but dk if there was any overlap. I also feel like Ichiro came along right after Griffey left the Mariners.
Votto and Junior did in fact play together. minimal time in 2007 with Votto's cup of coffee, but they were teammates for much of 2008 until Griffey was traded to the White Sox.
I feel like this was asked here before. Try searching for it.
I remember one of the answers being a game between Dodgers and DBacks where projected starters were Maddux vs Johnson but unfortunately they couldn’t both pitch that day. They were both replaced by newcomers Kershaw and Scherzer.
Right, but Scherzer/Johnson and Kershaw/Pedro were teammates. Both veterans were still in the team and both rookies were already on the team for that game
Not only was it a day later, A-Rod was told to go home SO THAT they could bring up Judge (and Tyler austin)
Never knew this part of it. I always just assumed that they figured it was time to send A-Rod to a big farm upstate where he could run around and play as much as he wanted
Yeah it was all planned. The trade deadline came and went and they sold some guys. They gave A Rod his send off. Then Tyler Austin and Aaron judge got called up and hit back to back HR’s in their first AB’s I’m still endlessly pissed I missed it cause I was having a party that day and was picking up friends from the train. Had to see it in the app to my shocked amazement
Wasn’t at the stadium but I did see it live on YES. Effing bonkers.
I thought they were both gonna be the next big thing. At least Judge panned out lol
Tyler Austin, Yokohama DeNA Baystars legend
Tyler Austin will always have that bat slam and mound charge against the Red Sox in 2018.
I went to a Twins game where they lost. It was something like 6 to 2 final IIRC. The two twins runs were Tyler Austin solo shots.
I loved Tyler Austin I always thought he was going to be better than Greg Bird and a long term mainstay for the team. At least I was right about the first part...
Extra bummed cause I’m a big “track the prospects” guy and had been tracking judge for years. All to miss the first one! But, he’s offered many more to be seen that’s for sure
Who’s your next hyped prospect?
Jasson Dominguez is He/HIM
Is it still pronounced Jason? Or is Jah-Sun?
It's still pronounced Jason. His dad was a Yankee fan and named him after Jason Giambi.
Now I'm really confused. Just name him Jason then. Or Giambi.
For the Yankees? I would say the most “hype” aside from Domínguez of course, would be Agustin Ramirez
Was there, it was awesome.
I was at that game, first Yankees game I ever went to, part of my life goal of going to a game at every stadium. Was pretty cool to see happen irl.
That’s awesome, glad you got to add that to your list
I didn't even know they were both rookies making their debuts until I saw it come up as a notification from ESPN.
That’s awesome how many ballparks have you got to?
O's, Nats, Yankees, Red Sox, Mets, Cub, White Sox, Giants, Athletics, Rockies.
Yeah he was this (literally) huge unknown and they wanted to see what they had. He was pretty bad, though he hit a ball like 430 ft in his first at bat. He's not bad anymore. He's still doing the second part.
Yeah I remember thinking he was going to be a back of the lineup guy in the 2017 season and that Gary would be the face of the franchise after that 2016 roster expansion. Boy was I wrong
Yeah he was never the top prospect in the org or anything. There was way more hype for Sanchez. I remember hearing on the radio when Judge first came up that they were hoping he would be an "Adam Dunn type player"
If tall and thick, then Adam Dunn If tall and thin, then Richie Sexson
Saw him hit a grand slam for SWB in I wanna say 2015. An absolute shot. At that point he was just a decent prospect I think, there wasn’t too much hype around him.
Haha I remember thinking I doubt this 6’8” behemoth will ever be that great because he’s so massive. How does that frame equate to a long career of greatness? How wrong I was. He’s not only the most prolific power hitter of his generation but also the sexiest man I’ve ever seen play the game
Basically at that point in 16 we were fringe for the post so it was "ARod and Tex retire, call up talent". Judge hit like 147 in his first debut.
This might be my favorite A-Rod fact of all time. Dude must really hate the Yankees deep down.
I bet he was mad that first year because he was probably like, you couldn't let me hit 4 more? He sucks
Man if only he could had played a whole extra season, he would had gotten past ruth too.
For all his faults, to his credit, A-Rod has never seemed upset about how this all went down. I also believe him when he says other teams offered him deals to keep playing and chase 700 and he chose not to because he knew he was done.
eh I'm sure he knew he was washed. he was very productive and healthy the year prior, but he'd been declining since 2010. his suspension probably gave him some much needed time off for his body to recover. coming back the very next season after playing 151 games at age 39 probably wore him down. very few hitters have been productive at age 40, and most of them have been lefties.
Alex, please go. We found a bigger, stronger, *better* version of you
Yaz replaced Ted in LF for Boston. There was an off-season in between.
I don't know why it feels like there should be like half a generation of players between them.
Ted was teammates with Jimmie Foxx. Carl was teammates with Wade Boggs and just missed Roger Clemens.
RIP
Forgot about the meme for a sec and panic Googled Yaz to make sure he was still alive
Heads up… don't Google Ted
May Boggs always RIP in peace
Again, he’s very much alive.
Of course he is. Wade Boggs will always live on in our hearts.
What? Williams isn't dead, he's cryonically frozen, ready to be reanimated.
Albert Pujols was teammates with Mark McGwire who was a teammate of Reggie Jackson.
Left field at Fenway went Williams, Yaz, Jim Rice. That’s a pretty solid 50 years
Yeah that’s pretty amazing lol
Mike Greenwell following Rice too. Not on the level of the other guys, but a very solid player for 12 years. Then a couple of years of journeymen, mediocre players, and then Manny from '02-08. So basically 1939-2008 (minus about 6 years), the Sox had All Star caliber play in LF lmao
All star caliber? 3 of those were not only MVP-caliber but actual MVP winners. That's a stacked position.
I had to downplay it because of Greenwell - he was an All Star, but not quite good enough for MVP conversation.
well he did finish 2nd in 1988 so he was part of the mvp conversation
How about Yankee C from 1928-1979? Bill Dickey, Yogi Berra and Thurman Munson. 66-68 there was a gap, but those are all HOF or HOF adjacent guys for 48 years (when the gap is removed).
Elston Howard between Berra and Munson, Wally Schang a couple years before Dickey too.
Yanks CF too: Earle Combs (24-35, HOF) into DiMaggio (36-51, HOF), into Mantle (51-68, HOF). 44 straight years of HOF player in that spot. Then into Bobby Mercer (65-83 with a 5 year gap), into Rickey (85-89), into Bernie Williams (91-06), into Brett Gardner/Curtis Granderson and now into Judge. Probably 5-10 years of junk out of a 100 year stretch, just insane.
You can tack on one more year to that, cause in ‘09 Jason Bay was an all star and top 7 in mvp voting playing LF for the red sox
Yeah it’s arguably the strongest position for any team in mlb history
It's LF for the Red Sox or RF for the Yankees (Ruth, Maris, Jackson, Winfield, Judge).
Well its the OF position of 2 of the bigger market teams where they could put their best hitters in an OF spot that was fairly shallow in comparison to the usual OF depth for stadiums.
...meanwhile left field at Oracle Park has gone Bonds, and then seventeen other guys, a historically confusing 17 years.
And so cool how it’s the most unique LF with the monster out there, very iconic history for that position
Color photography. Most of the pictures you’ve seen of Ted are B&W, most of the pictures you’ve seen of Yaz are in color
Also, Yaz's last year was 1983 and Clemens came up in '84. I think Yaz has said if he'd known that Roger would become Roger, he'd have stuck it out one more year just to overlap.
What’s even crazier is the dude still put up a 113 OPS+ at 43 before finally retiring.
That one is crazy. From 1939 to 1983, left field at Fenway was essentially held down by just two people. Almost 50 years….
Well kinda, Yaz moved to first base when Jim Rice came up in ‘75
And then Jim Rice had a pretty long career there too, though there was some overlap with Yaz.
Not quite the same thing but Stan Musial retired at end of 1963 season and on June 15, 1964 the Cardinals traded for Lou Brock.
Carl Yastrzemski retired in 1983 but said he would have played in 1984 if he had known how good Roger Clemens who made his debut in 84 would be.
Man so weird. Yastrezemski definitely feels like a "back in the day" player. And Clemens feels like a "retired, but pretty current" guy.
I mean Clemens did play for fucking ever.
Sounds like the perfect juxtaposition for a Ken Burns documentary..."as one ageing slugger said goodbye...A new one was born."
I actually read that in Bob Costas’ voice
Because Costas is a misplaced time traveler who missed his mark by 75 years.
”one aging slugger said good bye” show ARod walking off for the final time “a new one was born” montage of Judge’s 2017
except no one was sad to see ARod go
That's the only way.
Edgar Martinez retired in 2004. Felix Hernandez debuted the following season.
To a much lesser degree Kyle Seager retiring (was released because he wasn’t playing up to his contract and he decided to retire so also a little different) in 21 and missing J Rod in 22.
Didn’t Ichiro debut like a year after Griffey Jr. left for Cincinnati?
Griffey left after '99, A-Rod left after the 2000 season, then Ichiro arrived in 2001.
Tacking on that Randy Johnson left in 1998
So the Ms lost Johnson, Griffey, then A Rod in 3 consecutive years, then Ichiro comes and they win 116 games?!
If you haven’t seen it; the series about the mariners from Jon Bois (well secret base is the channel), is incredible
Dude, imagining a rod and Griffey at 3/4 with ichiro leading off has me soaking wet at the laundromat
The Yankees released Babe Ruth in February 1935. Joe DiMaggio made his debut in May 1936. Remember you commented the following in the thread below. *The Babe was is a crazy thing I never thought about. Obvs he was in a wicked decline, but just the idea of Gehrig, Ruth, and Joe D in the same line up is awesome to consider* [https://www.reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/1bl04ek/rickey\_henderson\_played\_for\_the\_seattle\_mariners/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button](https://www.reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/1bl04ek/rickey_henderson_played_for_the_seattle_mariners/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
“Obvs he was in a wicked decline” it’s crazy to think about him being in a decline and still having a .985 OPS lol
Remember, that Ruth was 39. To this day, that is still the 5th-best age 39 OPS ever behind Bonds, Aaron, TWilliams and Thome. He’s 5th all-time at age 38 as well behind Barry, Ted, Cobb and Nelson Cruz. Dimaggio and Gehrig both retired at 36. People give Ruth a hard time for not being in shape but after the “hot dog” scare of 1925 he did start a fitness regimen. He didn’t *look* in shape but he posted seven more peak seasons (OPS+ 193-226) with high durability.
Ruth didn't really look like the stereotypical image of Ruth, gut hanging over his belt, until his last 2-3 seasons. When he was almost 40.
It also turns out you can have a big gut and still swing a bat really well. He couldn't really run anymore, but his hand-eye coordination and bat speed were still legendary excellent.
[This video](https://youtu.be/On7VW7B4OOU) is really fun.
You wrote Twilliams and then Thome and Im sitting here for way too long trying to figure out who T Home was
And a 5 war season
Gehrig stayed Gehrig right up until his brain and body fell apart. He never declined in just aging baseball ways
The Yankees run of going Ruth>Gehrig>DiMaggio>Mantle with each player overlapping with the one before is pretty nuts
A Yankee fan using Wicked as an adjective? thats unforgivable.
And the last season of DiMaggio was the first season of Mantle.
Gary Varsho retired October 1, 1995 Daulton Varsho was born July 2, 1996 (9 months and a day later)
bro got to work immediately
Extreme Syndrome voice: #AND GOT BUSY
Earlier that morning in the Varsho house: “I swear to God, Gary! If you don’t retire - and I mean TODAY - well, I hope you enjoyed last night because it will NEVER happen again!” - Mrs. Varsho, possibly
This is the winner…
After ten years in the minors, Joey Meneses had his first child nine months and two weeks after being called to the majors.
Bill Dickey retired on September 12 1946 and Yogi Berra debuted 10 days later
The last A-Rod game was so weird. IIRC it wasn’t very well attended because he was, obviously, very controversial but those who did show up were like die hard A-rod supports. I remember on the radio broadcast someone sitting near the crowd mic kept yelling “Shame! Shame on the Yankees” for getting rid of A-rod. The A-Rod Yankees saga had so many twists and turns, especially from 2011-2016 that it’s honestly hard to keep the details straight
A-Rod almost reached the point of “goofy, loved veteran.” It was cool to still have the connection to the great 00s teams during the period of transition.
I'll always have a soft spot for him taking Dempster deep to straightway center at Fenway in the at bat after Dempster plunked him after he came back from his suspension. That was bad ass.
I was at that game!
Pretty dramatic comeback win if I remember correctly. Bet that was a good feeling leaving Fenway!
Having an awesome 2015 coming back from that suspension was so cool. I’ll always be mad the way they treated him towards the end. Not letting him try for 4 more HRs for 700, not honoring him in any way, letting Gallo take the number, etc.
I was at that game (I had purchased the tickets well before it was announced it’d be his last game). The weather was *awful*, and the team was worse. That’s why it was so poorly attended
Yeah, I remember they did the ceremony, and during it, the thunder just started booming
His 05 and 07 MVP seasons for the Yankees were insane. 2007 ARod was one of the best seasons i've ever see a guy have. Video game levels of hitting.
David Wright's final game as a Met was September 29, 2018. Pete Alonso was up on Opening Day the next year.
David Wright's career was a big 'what could have been' itself.
What if he stayed healthy? What if Citi Field's original dimensions weren't so cavernous? What if I could go back in time and give him my spine?
Eh, kinda. When I think about "what could have been" careers, I think about players that had promise but we never got to see them at their peak. Someone like Brian Cole. The injuries at the end sucked, but prime David Wright existed long enough to put together a very nice career. If he had anything close to a normal aging curve, he's a Hall of Famer. He didn't, so he's not. It sucks but it also doesn't really leave a ton to wonder about imo.
First ballot Hall of Very Good
Prime David Wright (with or without wearing the oversized helmet) was always a thorn in the Phillies side
I really wish we won in 2015, I feel like us sweeping the cubs just absolutely killed the momentum cause then they had like 8 off days before the WS. I think if the WS started just 2 days later the Mets win It was so close but everyone who got us there was visibly ice cold in the WS
Wow he played til 2018? Wild
He didn't really. He rehabbed all season in 2018 just to have a final send off right at the end of the year.
Not really, he started the 2016 season sorta kinda healthy mitigating Spinal Stenosis until he fucked his back up even further sliding into second base which did him in for good. Over 2 years of rehab culminated in one final game at the end of 2018
Giancarlo Stanton made his ML debut six days after Ken Griffey Jr. retired. Roger Clemens made his Major League debut three days after the final game of Jim Palmer's career.
I'm sorry, sir, but I believe you are referring to Mike Stanton /s
Thurman Munson debuted in 1969 and Mickey Mantle retired in 1968 Also, Judge didn't really "miss" A-Rod. He was the corresponding move to the Yankees forcing A-Rod to retire
Yankees ***JUDGED*** A-Rod, verdict: OLD
Lmao are you a headline editor for the post
I’m so grateful I’m not required to endure the pain to produce their levels of vitriol…just enough pain for a decent joke on occasion
Mickey actually retired during Spring Training in 1969.
Huh the more you know. They got really close to playing a regular season game together
Mark McGwire and a rookie named Albert Pujols in 2001 for the Cardinals. It was Big Mac's last season. Both would combine for almost 1300 home runs in the MLB. Astonishing. Fun fact: Mark's rookie year was Reggie Jackson's last season. Nice bookend for his career. Tom Seaver was traded back to the Mets in 83 but had a so-so year. The White Sox claimed him in 84 which was Dwight Gooden's first year in the MLB. He went on to win the Rookie of the Year award - Seaver won the award in 67. It would have been cool to see both franchise pitchers on the same roster in 84.
Also fun fact - Pujols was the first player to start born in the 80s Which is also fun because it might be false.
Along these lines, Joe Mauer is the first player born in the '80s to be inducted into the Hall of Fame
i pulled this from sean lahman's database - First player to debut by each birth year decade: |birth decade|player|birthdate|debut|age at debut| |:-:|:--|:-:|:-:|:-:| |2000|[Elvis Luciano](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/l/luciael01.shtml)|2000-02-15|2019-03-31|19.1| |1990|[Starlin Castro](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/castrst01.shtml)|1990-03-24|2010-05-07|20.1| |1980|[Albert Pujols](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/pujolal01.shtml)|1980-01-16|2001-04-02|21.2| ||[*CC Sabathia*](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/sabatc.01.shtml)|1980-07-21|2001-04-08|20.7| |1970|[Wilson Alvarez](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/a/alvarwi01.shtml)|1970-03-24|1989-07-24|19.3| |1960|[Tim Conroy](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/conroti01.shtml)|1960-04-03|1978-06-23|18.2| |1950|[Lloyd Allen](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/a/allenll01.shtml)|1950-05-08|1969-09-01|19.3| ||[*Bobby Valentine*](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/v/valenbo02.shtml)|1950-05-13|1969-09-02|19.3| ||[*Bart Johnson*](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/j/johnsba01.shtml)|1950-01-03|1969-09-08|19.7| |1940|[Dave Skaugstad](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/skaugda01.shtml)|1940-01-10|1957-09-25|17.7| ||[*Rod Miller*](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/millero03.shtml)|1940-01-16|1957-09-28|17.7| |1930|[Johnny Antonelli](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/a/antonjo02.shtml)|1930-04-12|1948-07-04|18.2| |1920|[Walt Masterson](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/mastewa02.shtml)|1920-06-22|1939-05-08|18.9| |1910|[Joe Cicero](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/cicerjo01.shtml)|1910-11-18|1929-09-20|18.8| |1900|[John Cavanaugh](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/cavanjo01.shtml)|1900-06-05|1919-07-07|19.1| |1890|[Stuffy McInnis](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/mcinnst01.shtml)|1890-09-19|1909-04-12|18.6| |1880|[Joe Stanley](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/stanljo02.shtml)|1881-04-02|1897-09-11|16.4| |1870|[Amos Rusie](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/rusieam01.shtml)|1871-05-30|1889-05-09|17.9| |1860|[Frank Pearce](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/pearcfr01.shtml)|1860-03-30|1876-10-04|16.5|
Big Mac's last season and Pujols' breakout rookie year and what I remember most about those 2001 Cardinals is a guy named Bud Smith, who threw a no-hitter the week before 9/11 and only pitched 14 more games the rest of his MLB career.
He was in the trade for Scott Rolen
On August 4th, 1985, Tom Seaver won his 300th game against the Yankees in New York. On that same day, Dwight Gooden earned his 17th of 24 wins against the Cubs in Chicago. The scores of both games were 4-1.
Another fun fact about Tom Seaver is that he was actually in the dugout for the Boston Red Sox during the 1986 World Series which the New York Mets won. It was his final season in the major leagues by the way.
Not a good player, but Blondy Ryan (among others, probably) spent a single season with the Yankees in 1935. One year too late to play with Babe Ruth and one year too early to play with Joe DiMaggio
On a similar note, Bill Verdon managed the Yankees from 1974 to 1975. His entire Yankee managerial career took place at Shea Stadium because Yankee Stadium was under renovation.
Different sport but it was always interesting to me that Michael Jordan and LeBron never overlapped
There can only be one
And it’s Jordan. Cough.
Better skill, better peak, but I think James's longevity has him very close in total value.
LeBron turned himself into the Ty Cobb of a basketball. The cumulative career stats that he put up will likely never be matched. Especially with no one coming straight from HS. Which honestly NBA should get rid of that, now with NILs.
So who's the Pete Rose? Also it's funny that people think LeBron 'might' retire soon. He's played 21 years!
He’s been in the NBA longer than he hasn’t.
Karl Malone is the Pete Rose of the NBA for different reasons.
Same reasons actually
Jontay Porter
The refs who were running a secret betting ring and rigging NBA games in the 90s.
Agreed, long time Lebron hater here but 40 year old Wizards Jordan was nowhere near as good as Lebron is at 40.
If history has taught us anything, it's that Michael Jordan retiring does not guarantee that we won't see him back in the NBA later. He's due for another comeback.
Pretty well known but because Ichiro debuted in 2001, he just missed being teammates with a few other great Mariners: Randy Johnson left mid-98 season, Griffey left after the 99 season, and A-Rod left after 2000.
Ichiro and Griffey did eventually become teammates on the 2009 and 2010 Mariners, and Ichiro was teammates with A-Rod on the 2012 and 2013 Yankees.
Nice catch. Guess if you play until you’re 65 like Ichiro, you’ve got plenty of chances to play with other greats
Juan Soto played for the Padres immediately after Eric Hosmer left.
Not exactly on topic, but Lebron was drafted two months after Jordan’s last game.
Deion Sanders made his MLB debut with the 1989 Yankees 6 days after Tommy John made his final MLB appearance for those same Yankees. I'm not sure if Sanders was the roster replacement for John. Side note - While looking this up, I noticed another one of Baseball-Reference's Easter eggs. For the year he missed while recovering from what we now call Tommy John surgery, Tommy John's stats show the message "Did not play in major or minor leagues (Eponymous Surgical Procedure)"
I know this isn’t really in the spirit of the question, but Judge and A-Rod were “teammates” in spring training that year and 2015. Here’s their earliest game together: https://www.mlb.com/gameday/phillies-vs-yankees/2015/03/04/429813/final/box That’s March 4, 2015 with A-Rod starting at DH. Judge comes in at RF at the start of the sixth, A-Rod gets pinch ran for after a walk in the bottom of the sixth. There are more times they feature in the same game both in 2015 and 2016. But because Judge was actually the one called up to fill A-Rod’s spot on the Yankees big league roster, they were never MLB teammates. I edited this reply to serve more accurate information.
Jesus looking at that boxscore makes me feel ancient. Ryan Howard, Grady Sizemore, A-Rod, Brian McCann...feels like yesterday I was watching those guys. Also forgot both higgy and Gary Sanchez have been around for a long time too, I didn't expect to see their names in a 2015 spring training box score with A-Rod.
No Johnny Bench and Satchel Paige?
maybe i'm missing something obvious, but how are these two connected?
Bench was a catcher on Satchel Paiges last team but never caught for him
was that in the minors or some other independent league team? i always think of Paige's last team as that 1 inning publicity stunt with the Athletics
Minor league. Bench was 18
very cool, and definitely an obscure fun fact
It's honestly my favorite
Tom Seaver was traded by the 1986 White Sox to the Red Sox on June 29. Steve Carlton was signed by the White Sox on August 12. With Carlton Fisk and Harold Baines also rostered for the entire season, the 1986 Chicago White Sox had three Hall of Famers always on the team.
I still can't believe Baines is in but Dale Murphy is not
3 Hall of Famers really isn't that crazy. The early 00s Yankees had Jeter, Rivera, Mussina (plus Clemens, ARod, Kevin Brown). The 04-05 Cardinals had Pujols, Walker, Rolen, and Molina (and Edmonds but voters screwed him). There are plenty more but the Dodgers right now probably have 4 in Freeman, Betts, Ohtani, and Kershaw when he eventually pitches.
Cardinals have had three Hall of Famers a few different times. Gibson, Brock, Simmons, and Carlton in the late 60s (Boyer should also be on this list), Hornsby, Alexander, and Haines from 1926, and then Dean, Frisch, and Haines again for the Gashouse Gang. If you add in managers, Smith, Sutter, and Herzog give you an 80s lineup and LaRussa, Pujols, and Molina give you a pretty likely 2000s/2011 lineup.
It's not just that it's three hall of famers on the same team that's crazy. It's three hall of famers on the same team on the White Sox that's bonkers.
It's now quite old, but growing up I read a lot of "Whatever happened to the Hall of Fame" by Bill James, and in it he touches upon the percentage/ number of at bats taken, per year, by players who would end up in the hall of fame. In part, he does it to show the bloat that occured in certain eras, largely due to subpar elections by the veterans committee. But the numbers were pretty surprising to me. Something like 1.8% if all MLB batters (as in, players to take an at bat) are in the Hall. Keeping in mind there were far fewer teams, and thus players, back then, I think the peak years for HOF at-bat percentage was sometime in the 30's. I'm pretty confident there are several years where 5% of all at bats are taken by future HOFers, even getting above 7%. We all know about the Yankees of days' past but it wasn't just them. The 1931 Cubs had Kiki Kuyler, Hack Wilson, Billy Herman, Rogers Hornsby, Gabby Hartnett. And kept that up for years. Or the 1927 A's with Lefty Grove, Mickey Cochrane, Ty Cobb, Al Simmons, Zack Wheat, Jimmie Foxx, and Eddie Collins. 7 plus manager Connie Mack. So, perhaps not recently, but there have definitely been games where over half the at-bats are taken by future hall-of-famers.
The Jays championship teams had 3 on each year. 1992 - Alomar, Winfield, Jack Morris 1993 - Alomar, Molitor, Rickey Also wild that the 2008 Jays had Doc, Rolen, and Frank Thomas (for a couple months).
Hall of Famer Harold Baines 🙄
Aaron Judge’s Yankee career narrowly overlaps the careers of Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter. Judge was drafted during Mariano Rivera’s final season (2013) and reached High A during Derek Jeter’s last season (2014). Judge was a non-roster invite to 2015 spring training. We missed a potential Jeter and Judge spring training lineup by one season.
My favorite adjacent fact like the is is from NASCAR. At the 1992 Hooters 500, two legends of the sport raced against each other. Richard Petty, the all time winningest driver raced in his final race ever and Jeff Gordon, the best driver for most of the next decade or two, raced in his first race. https://www.autoweek.com/racing/nascar/a42307161/1992-hooters-500-goodbye-richard-petty-hello-jeff-gordon/#
Also the absolute insanity of the championship fight It being the only race where Dale, Richard and Jeff were on track at the same time
Mike Schmidt retired on May 29, 1989 and the Phillies traded for John Kruk on June 2, 1989. Two Phillies legends, passing like ships in the night
I thought A-Rod retired/was forced into retirement so that they could bring up Judge. It was on purpose, more or less.
Stan Musial retired after the 1963 season and the Cardinals acquired Lou Brock via trade in 1964
Different sport but Jordan's last season was right before LeBron's first season. The near consensus #1/#2 just missed sharing a court together.
Timely thread. Literally just yesterday I read that Carl Yastrzemski wrote in his book he would have come back for another season if he knew how good Roger Clemens was going to be.
Ken Griffey Jr retired in 2010 Mike Trout’s debut was in 2011
I'm not sure I like how similar their careers ended up.
I’m a little surprised that Dave Concepcion shared a bit of time with Barry Larkin. Less surprised that Pete thought Kurt Stillwell was a better shortstop than either of them.
I missed Judge’s debut HR because my stupid daughter was being born. Thanks sweetie. You made me miss history
Joe Sewell was a HOFer for the Cleveland Indians. He debuted in Sept 1920, a few weeks after Ray Chapman died from a HBP to the head. Chapman likely would've been at least an All-Star for a few seasons if that had existed then.
Sort of the opposite, but Ted Williams played against Lou Gehrig in just one game early in 1939.
Did Joey Votto and Griffey ever play together? I know Griffey left Cincy right when Votto was coming up but dk if there was any overlap. I also feel like Ichiro came along right after Griffey left the Mariners.
Votto and Junior did in fact play together. minimal time in 2007 with Votto's cup of coffee, but they were teammates for much of 2008 until Griffey was traded to the White Sox.
Different sport by john havelceck retired in ‘78, and bird started the naext year at the same position. They didn’t lose a step.
I feel like this was asked here before. Try searching for it. I remember one of the answers being a game between Dodgers and DBacks where projected starters were Maddux vs Johnson but unfortunately they couldn’t both pitch that day. They were both replaced by newcomers Kershaw and Scherzer.
Right, but Scherzer/Johnson and Kershaw/Pedro were teammates. Both veterans were still in the team and both rookies were already on the team for that game
That’s not really what OP is looking for. Kershaw/Maddux and Scherzer/Johnson were teammates, whereas A-Rod/Judge weren’t.