Quiz for you - lets see who knows
 

WITHOUT use of the ---damn internet!!!!!!

Who played in 4 decades?.....not Minnie Minoso.....yes he did, but looking for someone else, hint he was decent with the bat.

Well?

Teddy Ballgame AKA Ted Williams

Rickey Henderson too I beleive.

Tim McCarver

More
 

....Mickey Vernon comes to mind.

Rick Demsey? ☺

Willie McCovey???

Luke Appling missed it by one year 1930-50!

Ben got it out of the gate with T-Dub.

Williams played in the 30's, 40's, 50's & 60's.

How many other HOFers played in 4 decades.

Rickey too!
 

Nice job Brendon!

I still need
 

A HOF 2B and amazingly a HOF Catcher too!!!! who dammit who?

I think Rickey Henderson and griffey Jr. would qualify.

We can add a pitcher in Nolan Ryan.

Yep
 

Ryan is the only HOF pitcher.....Cy Young was close, but no cigar!

Fisk is the catcher

Schoendienst for 2B?

Early Wynn played in four decades.

No
 

Not Red...he was only 40 50 & 60s

the guy i'm looking for played with SJJ

my error on Early Wynn, u are correct.

so 2 pitchers 4 hitters

How about Anson? Not sure without looking.

Anson played 27 years!!!!
 

but only in 3 decades

Somebody stole my Nolan Ryan answer, but HOF Eddie Collins, no?

Arlie Latham?

Jack Quinn

Eddie Collins yep
 

that's it for the HOFers.

A deserving Hall of Famer, although he'll likely never make it--Jim Kaat.

I've heard it's rumored that Elmer Valo got into 1 game with the 1939 Philadelphia Athletics; if so then he would be another four-decade player.

McCovey was the guy who jumped out at me as a kid. I thought it was cool to have a 1980 Topps card with stats going back to 1959.

My first thought was Jamie Moyer and I just looked him up - he played from 1986 to 2012!

WOW! :eek:

Jamie Moyer
Jack Quinn
Nick Altrock
Nolan Ryan
Jesse Orosco

Jim O'Rourke
Deacon McGuire
Dan Brouthers
Carlton Fisk
Omar Vizquel

This isn't all of them, but just ones that I know played past the age of 45 and hit the 4 decades.

Including Negro leagues you would have a few more including Satchel Paige

Jim Kaat was celebrated as a 4 decade player at the end of his career. And he could really hit!

Edit: Oops- sorry, I missed Todd's post !��

Kitty could field too--16 Gold Gloves, all in a row!

Kaat had a reputation as being a good hitter, but .185 lifetime isn't all that great, even for a pitcher. This is his lifetime average compared to some of the guys he played with on the Twins:

Pascual .205
Boswell .202
Perry .199
Kaat .185

Although Kaat did have more home runs than those other guys...

And he was, no question, a great and smart fielder.

I guess he was a better fielder, then. Not sure why I remember him as being a good hitter. :confused:

I think he hit a few clutch (or perhaps game winning) homers that drew some good publicity. Perhaps his .185 average was offset by having some power or clutch hitting ability. I thought maybe he was used as a pinch hitter a few times as well. Could be wrong...

You are not misremembering-- Kaat was often used as a pinch hitter, and was a great athlete. One blogger noted that he was used as a pinch hitter or pinch runner 106 times in his career.

Twins fans of my vintage remember that 1972 season when he broke his hand/wrist sliding into second. He continued to pitch through a couple more innings, won the game and was 10-2 less than halfway through the season, with an ERA barely over 2. Oh, and he was batting .289 with a couple of dingers!! The broken wrist ended his season and messed him up in 1973 as well.

What I remember is after that, Calvin sent him to the White Sox, and then stated in the papers that the Twins were in need of a left-handed starter... Kaat went on to win 20 games each of the next 2 years in Chicago.

Yep, and the Twins drafted Eddie Bane :)

Jamie Moyer was the last player in the Major Leagues who was older than me....made me sad to see him retire.