Julio Franco Retires

[SamtheBravesFan]

One of the more unique careers in baseball history is now over.

The list of teams that Franco has played on:

Butte Copper Kings
Central Oregon Phillies
Peninsula Pilots
Oklahoma City 89ers
Philadelphia Phillies
Cleveland Indians
Texas Rangers
Chicago White Sox
Chiba Lotte Marines
Milwaukee Brewers
Tampa Bay Devil Rays
Samsung Lions
Angelopolis Tigers
Atlanta Braves
Rome Braves
Richmond Braves
New York Mets
Quintana Roo Tigers

That is a lot of travel, my friends. Have a nice retirement, Julio!

[Sweet Lou]

I was hoping he'd make his goal of playing till he was 50. Hats off to you, Julio!
Lou

[Pere]

I believe in addition to all of the teams above, Julio also played for Leones del Escogido for twenty-nine winter seasons, 1980-2008.

[SamtheBravesFan]

I believe in addition to all of the teams above, Julio also played for Leones del Escogido for twenty-nine winter seasons, 1980-2008.

Yeah, that's true. During the winter leagues, of course.

[Pere]

The linked article actually shortchanges his professional career a little, saying he began in 1980.

As listed above, he played for the Butte Copper Kings (an all-time great team name!) and Central Oregon Phillies (uh, not so great) in 1978 and 1979, respectively.

Julio Franco batted over .300 at every level of the minors that he played, on his way up to Philadelphia. After playing just 16 games with Philly, they packaged him in a trade with Jay Baller, Manny Trillo, George Vukovich, and Jerry Willard, all to get Von Hayes (who I just saw yesterday, managing the Lancaster Barnstormers) from the Indians.

[Bothrops Atrox]

Unfortunately for Franco, all of his hanging around as a margainly prductive player and trying to play until he was 50 underminded and will ultimately overshadow how good of a hitter he was during the late 80's and eraly 90's. Most will forever remember him for the wrong things now.

[lovethegame]

Best of wishes and thank you
For several years he was as good as anyone
for a lot of years he was just plain good

[SamtheBravesFan]

Unfortunately for Franco, all of his hanging around as a margainly prductive player and trying to play until he was 50 underminded and will ultimately overshadow how good of a hitter he was during the late 80's and eraly 90's. Most will forever remember him for the wrong things now.

Well, whoever thinks that is (and will be) very shortsighted. If this is true, then Julio did it to himself. He knew that he was giong to get attention for being the oldest to do this and that. If people look at his whole body of work (I don't see how you can avoid that), they'll find he was pretty good.

[Bothrops Atrox]

Well, whoever thinks that is (and will be) very shortsighted. If this is true, then Julio did it to himself. He knew that he was giong to get attention for being the oldest to do this and that. If people look at his whole body of work (I don't see how you can avoid that), they'll find he was pretty good.

So far in various places (maybe I am in the wrong places), I have heard about 20 people talk about his longevity/age and virtualy nobody about the quality of the first half of his career. It is understandable, seeing how amazing his conditioning was. I just see him as being rembered more of a novelty that deserved. I could be wrong.

[efin98]

Well, whoever thinks that is (and will be) very shortsighted. If this is true, then Julio did it to himself. He knew that he was giong to get attention for being the oldest to do this and that. If people look at his whole body of work (I don't see how you can avoid that), they'll find he was pretty good.

The supposed reason doesn't overshadow the real reason- he wasn't just sitting there doing nothing, he was still producing.

Frankly the guy was a good bench player who was worth having on your team despite his older age. Even if he wanted to play until he was 50(find one ballplayer who wouldn't!) he was a contributor to his teams until the end.

[SamtheBravesFan]

The supposed reason doesn't overshadow the real reason- he wasn't just sitting there doing nothing, he was still producing.

Frankly the guy was a good bench player who was worth having on your team despite his older age. Even if he wanted to play until he was 50(find one ballplayer who wouldn't!) he was a contributor to his teams until the end.

Hey, I know that. I loved the guy. I was one of the few Braves fans who refused to make fun of him in 2007 no matter what he did. He produced about as much as a guy his age could produce. It was incredible.

[SamtheBravesFan]

So far in various places (maybe I am in the wrong places), I have heard about 20 people talk about his longevity/age and virtualy nobody about the quality of the first half of his career. It is understandable, seeing how amazing his conditioning was. I just see him as being rembered more of a novelty that deserved. I could be wrong.

I guess you can't make people do their research, but you can enlighten them by pointing this stuff out if you come across it.

[BenHertz]

Even if he wanted to play until he was 50(find one ballplayer who wouldn't!)

Brad Radke, Kent Hrbek. That's two!

But yeah, I know what you mean.

[redlegsfan21]

You forgot one more team, the 1981 Reading Phillies.

[stejay]

What a shame. He had a lets say, interesting career. Good luck to him in his further endeavours.