Page 22 - ARUBA TODAY

A22 SPORTS
Wednesday 14 March 2018
Long time: Beltre, Colon only in MLB with 20-plus seasons

By STEPHEN HAWKINS after six weeks of spring
AP Sports Writer training and before any
SURPRISE, Ariz. (AP) — Adri- potential postseason play.
an Beltre is long past go- "I don't think there's a lack
ing to spring training try- of desire by players," said
ing to make the team. The Trevor Hoffman, a reliever
five-time Gold Glove third who had 601 career saves
baseman with more than over 18 seasons and will
3,000 career hits is quite a be inducted into the Hall
rarity. of Fame this summer. "I
Going into his 21st big- think that for the most part,
league season, Beltre is most guys want that jersey
one of only two current ripped of them."
players who have played Hoffman pitched his last
at least 20 MLB seasons. game only two weeks be-
The other is his new team- fore his 43rd birthday.
mate with the Texas Rang- Ichiro Suzuki, the 2001 AL
ers, 44-year-old pitcher Rookie of the Year and
Bartolo Colon. MVP who won a pair of AL
"One, they're extremely du- batting titles with Seattle, is
rable," San Diego Padres back with the Mariners on
pitcher Clayton Richard a one-year contract. This
said. "And two, they have This is a March 1, 2018, file photo showing Texas Rangers starting pitcher Bartolo Colon throwing will be the 44-year-old out-
to be super talented, be- during the first inning of a spring training baseball game against the San Diego Padres, in Surprise, fielder's 18th MLB season
Ariz.
cause to have that long Associated Press after playing nine seasons
of a career, you have to in Japan.
start really early and that general manager San- 26 seasons from 1963-89, "I can't even fathom play- "I think everybody's goal is
means from an early age dy Alderson said. "When missing all of 1975 after be- ing for 20 years. I feel like to play like that, but just the
you're talented enough to you're talking about posi- ing the first to have ulnar I've been pretty fortunate nature of it is most people
play with the best people tion players, you're almost ligament reconstruction in in my career to stay rela- kind of, you start fading
in the world. So to combine exclusively talking about his elbow, the surgery that tively healthy," said Chase off, or injuries or something
those two things and play the American League be- now bears his name. Headley, the 33-year-old like that stops you, or lack
that long is one of the most cause of the ability to DH. The workhorse pitchers Padres infielder going into of performance," said Kyle
impressive things in profes- As far as pitchers are con- were among 44 two-de- his 12th season. Seager, the 30-year-old Se-
sional athletics." cerned, pitchers have a cade players whose final "But I know that it's a chal- attle third baseman going
Of the 19,183 players list- short professional life span games were in the 1980s lenge now to get ready into his eighth season.
ed by baseballreference. anyway. Guys like Bartolo or 1990s — 22 in each of to play every day, and for Players are also making
com as appearing in a big are unique." those decades. Rickey somebody to do it twice as more money now. The av-
league game, only 156 Nolan Ryan pitched a re- Henderson, the only mod- long as I have, it blows my erage salary is over $4 mil-
have played at least 20 cord 27 seasons before re- ern-era position player to mind. I don't really under- lion a season, more than
seasons . That is about one- tiring in 1993, nearly a cen- go 25 seasons, was one of stand or comprehend how double what it was in 2000.
thousandth of 1 percent of tury after Cap Anson was 27 players who ended ca- you could do it." Ryan, the strikeout king
all players. the only other to play 27 reers of at least 20 seasons There is the constant men- who also threw seven no-
Carlos Beltran, like Beltre big-league seasons (1871- in the decade that started tal and physical grind of hitters, became the first
and Colon, played his 20th 97). Tommy John pitched the 2000s. 162-game regular seasons, player with a $1 million an-
season last year. But the nual salary after signing a
40-year-old outfielder re- $4.5 million, four-year con-
tired after finally being part tract with the Astros as a
of a World Series title with free agent after the 1979
the Houston Astros. season.
Beltran was the 13th play- Over his entire career,
er since 2010 to end his Ryan made just more than
career after playing that $25 million in salary. About
long, with Beltre and Colon a dozen players will make
the only others that could that much just this season.
before 2020. It will be the Beltre, who made his MLB
fewest 20-year players fin- debut at age 19 with the
ishing their careers during Dodgers in June 1998, will
a decade since Hall of turn 39 just 10 days into this
Fame members Hank Aar- season.
on, Brooks Robinson, Willie After last year becoming
Mays and Al Kaline were only the 31st member of
among nine who made the 3,000-hit club, Suzuki
their final appearances in was the 30th, Beltre's pri-
the 1970s. mary goal now is to finally
"Well, 20 years is a long win a World Series.
time. I think that you know "It's a different challenge
the levels of conditioning every year," said Beltre,
and the demands of per- Texas Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre tosses a baseball to a fan during the fifth inning of the whose only World Se-
formance year in and year team's spring training baseball game against the Chicago White Sox on Thursday, March 8, 2018, ries appearance came
out just may take a greater in Surprise, Ariz. in 2011, his first season in
toll now than they did in Associated Press Texas. "But it's the same
the past," New York Mets excitement."q