Sports Facts : Players With Most Seasons Ever As A Pro (MLB, NBA, NHL, NFL
 

Just posting this (below) for all of you trivia buffs. Please share any thoughts.


MLB : Nolan Ryan 27 seasons (1966-1993)


NBA : Lebron James 22 seasons (2003 - Present)
Vince Carter 22 seasons (1998 -2020)


NHL : Gordie Howe 26 seasons (1946- 1971 and 1979 - 1980)
Chris Chelios 26 seasons (1983- 2010)


NFL : George Blanda 26 seasons (1949 - 1975)

Not all in the NHL, but Jaromir Jagr has played hockey forever.

Thanks for sharing those stats.

Wonder if those also the career leaders for most games played, but guessing MLB is a positional player.

WOW, from 1988 to Now. That is amazing he is doing anything at 52 after that much playing time.

Must be Rose.

Correct!

MLB most games played:
Rose - 3562
Yaz - 3308
Aaron - 3298
Rickey - 3081
Pujols - 3080

NBA most games played:
Parish - 1611
Kareem - 1560
Vince Carter - 1541
Dirk - 1522
LeBron - 1505

NFL most games played:
Morten Andersen - 382
Adam Vinatieri - 365
Gary Anderson - 353
Jeff Feagles - 352
George Blanda - 340

NHL most games played:
Patrick Marleau - 1779
Gordie Howe - 1767
Mark Messier - 1756
Jaromir Jagr - 1733
Ron Francis - 1731

Gordie also had 6 full seasons in the WHA, which wasn't a joke league. Then at age 51, played a full 80 game season in the NHL when the Whalers were absorbed into the league, and had a +/- rating of +9 on a below average team.

Going by number of seasons can be a bit misleading, especially if they played only a few games at the end or beginning of a season. Chelios is a good example of that. He played for the U.S. at the 1984 Olympics (a former co-worker was a teammate). The games ended February 19 and he played 12 games for Montreal at the end of the season. His last season he played 7 games for Atlanta before retiring.

Isn't Cap Anson tied with Ryan at 27 seasons?

Good call. Anson played 27 seasons (1871-1897).

Hall of Famer Bobby Wallace played for 25 seasons, and holds the record for the longest career by a player who never played in a World Series.

Other 25 year baseball veterans are Charlie Hough, Jim Kaat, Jamie Moyer and Ricky Henderson.

Brooks Robinson and Carl Yastrzemski are tied at 23 seasons for the most under one organization.

Tom Brady, Brett Favre, Jerry Rice, Vinny Testaverde, Darrell Green, Aaron Rogers, Drew Brees, Jim Marshall, Earl Morrall, Junior Seau and Jackie Slater are the only non kickers/punters to play 20 (or more) full NFL seasons.

Peter was right Jagr.

Jagr (age 52) is on the current roster of his Czech team

https://www.eliteprospects.com/team/...%C5%99i-kladno

and considering his rookie year was 1990 (age 18).

He's been playing Pro Hockey for 34 years!!!!

Hockey Reference lists Jagr's stats with Kladno Jr. going back to age 12, so that's 41 years of continuous listed play.

Never seen anything like that, other than Jim O'Rourke, who played pro baseball for 38 seasons and was a regular in the Connecticut State League at 55 (tho for his last three seasons he just played a game or two.)

Oscar Schmidt, Brazilian basketball legend deserves some recognition. Played professionally for 29 years. He was drafted by the Nets in 1984 but only played with them in pre season training camp and left because the money was better in Europe. Played from 1974 until 2003.

Also 5 Olympics and multiple Olympic scoring records.

Julio Franco doesn’t quite qualify ,
Played 23 mlb seasons in 26 years (went overseas couple times)
But did play professional baseball 32 straight years (33 total)
Accumulated over 4000 hits and a .308 professional batting average