What major league players hit home runs both as teenagers and in their forties? That’s a pretty popular trivia question – and the answer is Ty Cobb, Rusty Staub and Gary Sheffield. More on those three later in this post, but first a look at an achievement of longevity that is just as rare: Pitches who earned major league victories as teens and in their forties. The three masters of mound tenure are Hall of Famers Herb Pennock and Bert Blyleven and, a less likely prospect, Mike Morgan.
Herb Pennock logged his first win (as an 18-year old) with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1912 and the last of his 241 victories (at age 40) with the Red Sox in 1934. In 22 MLB seasons, Pennock pitched for three teams and went 241-162, with a 3.60 ERA. Pennock earned three wins as a teenager and two wins after his fortieth birthday.
Bert Blyleven earned his first MLB victory (at age 19) for the Minnesota Twins in 1970 and garnered his final win in 1992 (age 41) for the California Angels. In between, in 22 seasons, he pitched for five teams, going 287-250 with a 3.31 ERA. Blyleven captured ten victories as a teenager and eight wins in his forties.
Mike Morgan – the non-Hall of Famer in this elite longevity trio – won his first game in 1979 (at age 19) for the Oakland A’s – after going 0-3 for the A’s as an 18-year-old the previous season. He picked up his last MLB win in 2002 (at age 42) for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Morgan pitched in 22 seasons – for 12 different teams. His longevity is a bit surprising, since he finished above .500 in only 5 seasons – running up a career record of 141-186, with a 4.23 ERA. Morgan picked up two wins as a 19-year-old and seven at 40-plus.
Now back to those long-ball hitters.
Ty Cobb hit his first MLB homer as a member of the Tigers back in 1905 (at age 19) and the last of his roundtrippers for the Philadelphia Athletics (at age 41) in 1928. He has the fewest home runs of any of this trio, with 117 – but is the only one to lead his league in long balls, with 9 in 1909. Overall, he put in 24 seasons for two teams (22 with the Tigers) and, of course, captured a dozen batting titles. Cobb hit two home runs as a teenager and six at age 40-plus.
Rusty Staub punched his first home run for Houston in 1963 at age 19 and his last (at age 41) for the Mets in 1985. He played 23 seasons (for five different teams) and hit a total of 292 homers. He hit six dingers before his twentieth birthday and two after his fortieth.
Gary Sheffield is the big bopper on this list, topping 500 homers in his 22-year, 8-team career. He hit his first homer in 1988 (age 19) for the Milwaukee Brewers and his last in 2009 (age 40) for the Mets. He finished with 509 homers, but never led the league. (He did win a batting title, hitting .330 for the Padres in 1992.) Sheffield popped four homers as a teen and ten as a forty-year-old