However, some of Bill James’ examples are misleading, if not downright ludicrous. Hack Wilson, Al Simmons, and Mickey Mantle were hard core alcoholics, and Mantle was plagued by bad knees. It’s not surprising they had precipitous drop-offs in production. Also, until fairly recently, players didn’t do a lot to keep in shape during the off season and were considered “old” at 35 or 36. Hell, until the last couple of decades, baseball players didn’t age well at all well, and when they werein their thirties often looked ten or fifteen years older.

While I agree with the general premise, there isn’t a whole lot in the article that’s really new. What I’d like to see is an explanation of why so many left-handed pitchers have their best years in their thirties and even forties.

on a lack of good drugs. Some guys just need better suppliers.

;)

Charles M. Conlon was the foremost baseball photographer of the first half of the 20th Century and took many of the iconic pictures of players from that period. A few years ago, I picked up an absolutely fascinating collection of his pictures called, “Baseball’s Golden Age – The Photographs of Charles M. Conlon” by Neal and Constance McCabe. It includes quite a few examples of pictures taken both at the beginning and end of various players’ careers, and it’s truly amazing to see how quickly they aged back then. A prime example is Al Simmons. In the picture taken at the end of his career, when he was about thirty-five, he looks a good fifteen or twenty years older. Many others fared little better. If you ever get a chance to get this book, I can’t recommend it enough.

I didn’t realize that Ernie Banks was the oldest position player in the N.L. in 1969, but I remember how the Cubs announcers often affectionately referred to him as the “old man.” I was only twelve in ’69 and people in their twenties seemed old to me, but Ernie definitely seemed much older than present day players of the same age. In fact, the way the announcers talked about him at the time, it seemed almost miraculous to me that he was still able to swing the bat, run the bases. and slide without breaking a hip. Little did I realize then that the late thirties is still very much the prime of life.