55 year old, Dominican Republic native, Julio Franco, to many, must be out of his mind.
The three time Major League Baseball All Star and five time Silver Slugger Award winner wants “back in.”
I am sure that the question is: Why? Why would a 55 year old man be interested in getting back out on the baseball diamond and slugging against guys that are half his age and may be even younger? Why is he so adamant about returning to baseball?
I am sure that no one has a problem with the 1991 American League batting champion returning to the field if it weren’t for his age. Franco, who originally retired on May 2, 2008 from the Quintana Roo Tigers, a Mexican League team, had made a statement concerning his desire for returning.
“I want to stay in baseball, and this is a neat opportunity for me to stay close to the game.” Franco told ESPN’s Richard Durrett. “If you stay at home, people forget about you, and you may not get back in. I want to get back in as a coach, hitting coach, bench coach, future manager. This is a great opportunity.”
Franco has played all over the world in the majors and minors as well as international leagues. He was also the manager of the Mets rookie level team.
On May 16, 2014, Franco was signed by the Fort Worth Cats for the 2014 season. He will play his first game in six years at LaGrave Field this week which is nine games long.
Franco has many accolades under his name, one of them being the oldest player (47) to ever hit a grand slam in the MLB AND the oldest player at age 48 to ever hit a home-run in the majors.
