The Franco-Files #15 (7/13-7/19)
in which we track the exploits of Julio and John Franco, baseball's two oldest players. They are both named J. Franco. Don't forget that.
Things are still very unsettled in the world of Julio and John. Well, it's actually John's world that is unsettled. As reported last week, John was dumped by the Houston Astros. Since then, we have heard nary a peep from the lefty reliever. Well, we did hear a peep- it was reported in the Daily News on Tuesday that in the wake of GPC star Al Leiter's dominating Yankee debut, John was one of Al's ex-teammates who called to congratulate him.
That's all well and good, but shouldn't we be reading stories in the News (and elsewhere) about John, his whereabouts, and his future plans? He still hasn't announced his retirement. All we're looking for here is some closure. You can't move on without closure.
To show John that we're thinking of him, we'll pause a moment and post his some numbers relating to his 2005 campaign:
Oldest Batter Faced (year): Rafael Palmeiro, Orioles, 40.
Youngest Batter Faced (year): Jose Reyes, Mets, 21
Total Batters Faced (year): 56, who have been a combined 819 years younger than John (avg. 14.6 years younger).
As distracting as the John Franco situation has been, we must move on and still attend to our day-to-day lives. With that in mind, we'll now proceed to the still very-active Julio Franco.
Julio
In the midst of John's release last week, we did not report on Julio. So, without further ado, here's a recap of Julio's last TWO weeks (7/6-19).
Oldest Pitcher Faced (2 weeks): Roberto Hernandez, Mets, 40. (86 cumulative years in that match-up).
Oldest Pitcher Faced (year): Roger Clemens, Astros, 42.
Youngest Pitcher Faced (2 weeks): Sergio Mitre, Cubs, 24. (He's just a lot longer than Julio, okay?)
Youngest Pitcher Faced (year): Gavin Floyd, Phillies, 22.
Total Pitchers Faced (2 weeks): 11, who were a combined 177 years younger than Julio (avg. 16.1 years younger).
Total Pitchers Faced (year): 81, who have been a combined 1330 years younger than Julio (avg. 16.4 years younger).
Despite the fact that we have to cover double the usual ground, Julios' been pretty quiet these past two weeks. There are two reasons for this. First, it is hard for Julio to concentrate when the fate of John is still up in the air. We've already established this. Second, the All-Star break was within the last two weeks. This meant there were fewer opportunities for Julio to suit up and play. Here at GPC, however, we feel that it was outright robbery that Julio was not invited to Detroit to participate in the mid-summer classic. He is the very definition of the word. He is a shooting star, breaking the mold.
Regardless, over the past two weeks, Julio appeared in 6 games, starting 4. Over these six games, he went 3-for-15 (.200) with a home run (off of Mark Prior on July 7th), sac fly, and two walks. He is now batting .271. After the month of June, in which Julio was absolutely torrid, breaking age-based records on a near-daily basis, things have cooled off for him. No matter. Baseball is a game of ups and downs. Julio takes it all in stride.
It is interesting that on July 15, Julio faced a pitcher in his 40s (Roberto Hernandez) for just the second time all year (the first was Roger Clemens). Julio hit into a 1-6-3 double play off of Hernandez, dropping to 0-4 off of 40+ pitchers for the year. In fact, 39 year-old Tom Glavine started the game, and Julio went 0-2 with a walk off of him. This was the third time Julio faced Glavine this year, and he is now 0-8 against him. Julio! This lack of success against your fellow oldsters is distressing. You are the king of the oldsters!
In the second half there are three things Julio has to look forward to:
1. Through the 19th, Julio has 2496 hits. Next week we'll update our readers on Julio's march to 2500 hits!
2. Should Julio homer after August 11th, he'll be the oldest player to do so. EVER.
3. August 23rd is Julio's 47th birthday. Pretty much everything he does from that point on will put him in the record books, because in MLB history, 47 year-olds have barely done a thing. That's because by age 47, most players are 15 years retired, nursing a scotch and water in some dingy bar, reminiscing on what could have been.
Not Julio, he is aware that life is always to be enjoyed in the present tense. All we ever have is the eternal now. Julio will continue to make the most of the eternal now. He is truly inspiring.
Julio, good luck in the second half. We'll be rooting for you! And John, wherever he is, is rooting for you, too. It's up to you now to keep the J. Franco accomplishments flowing.
Things are still very unsettled in the world of Julio and John. Well, it's actually John's world that is unsettled. As reported last week, John was dumped by the Houston Astros. Since then, we have heard nary a peep from the lefty reliever. Well, we did hear a peep- it was reported in the Daily News on Tuesday that in the wake of GPC star Al Leiter's dominating Yankee debut, John was one of Al's ex-teammates who called to congratulate him.
That's all well and good, but shouldn't we be reading stories in the News (and elsewhere) about John, his whereabouts, and his future plans? He still hasn't announced his retirement. All we're looking for here is some closure. You can't move on without closure.
To show John that we're thinking of him, we'll pause a moment and post his some numbers relating to his 2005 campaign:
Oldest Batter Faced (year): Rafael Palmeiro, Orioles, 40.
Youngest Batter Faced (year): Jose Reyes, Mets, 21
Total Batters Faced (year): 56, who have been a combined 819 years younger than John (avg. 14.6 years younger).
As distracting as the John Franco situation has been, we must move on and still attend to our day-to-day lives. With that in mind, we'll now proceed to the still very-active Julio Franco.
Julio
In the midst of John's release last week, we did not report on Julio. So, without further ado, here's a recap of Julio's last TWO weeks (7/6-19).
Oldest Pitcher Faced (2 weeks): Roberto Hernandez, Mets, 40. (86 cumulative years in that match-up).
Oldest Pitcher Faced (year): Roger Clemens, Astros, 42.
Youngest Pitcher Faced (2 weeks): Sergio Mitre, Cubs, 24. (He's just a lot longer than Julio, okay?)
Youngest Pitcher Faced (year): Gavin Floyd, Phillies, 22.
Total Pitchers Faced (2 weeks): 11, who were a combined 177 years younger than Julio (avg. 16.1 years younger).
Total Pitchers Faced (year): 81, who have been a combined 1330 years younger than Julio (avg. 16.4 years younger).
Despite the fact that we have to cover double the usual ground, Julios' been pretty quiet these past two weeks. There are two reasons for this. First, it is hard for Julio to concentrate when the fate of John is still up in the air. We've already established this. Second, the All-Star break was within the last two weeks. This meant there were fewer opportunities for Julio to suit up and play. Here at GPC, however, we feel that it was outright robbery that Julio was not invited to Detroit to participate in the mid-summer classic. He is the very definition of the word. He is a shooting star, breaking the mold.
Regardless, over the past two weeks, Julio appeared in 6 games, starting 4. Over these six games, he went 3-for-15 (.200) with a home run (off of Mark Prior on July 7th), sac fly, and two walks. He is now batting .271. After the month of June, in which Julio was absolutely torrid, breaking age-based records on a near-daily basis, things have cooled off for him. No matter. Baseball is a game of ups and downs. Julio takes it all in stride.
It is interesting that on July 15, Julio faced a pitcher in his 40s (Roberto Hernandez) for just the second time all year (the first was Roger Clemens). Julio hit into a 1-6-3 double play off of Hernandez, dropping to 0-4 off of 40+ pitchers for the year. In fact, 39 year-old Tom Glavine started the game, and Julio went 0-2 with a walk off of him. This was the third time Julio faced Glavine this year, and he is now 0-8 against him. Julio! This lack of success against your fellow oldsters is distressing. You are the king of the oldsters!
In the second half there are three things Julio has to look forward to:
1. Through the 19th, Julio has 2496 hits. Next week we'll update our readers on Julio's march to 2500 hits!
2. Should Julio homer after August 11th, he'll be the oldest player to do so. EVER.
3. August 23rd is Julio's 47th birthday. Pretty much everything he does from that point on will put him in the record books, because in MLB history, 47 year-olds have barely done a thing. That's because by age 47, most players are 15 years retired, nursing a scotch and water in some dingy bar, reminiscing on what could have been.
Not Julio, he is aware that life is always to be enjoyed in the present tense. All we ever have is the eternal now. Julio will continue to make the most of the eternal now. He is truly inspiring.
Julio, good luck in the second half. We'll be rooting for you! And John, wherever he is, is rooting for you, too. It's up to you now to keep the J. Franco accomplishments flowing.
posted by Ben at 9:30 AM
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