Oldest living ball players

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Posted By: Neal

I look at this updated list of oldest living ball players and I am truly amazed at the longevity in years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Oldest_Living_MLB_Players

P.S> My grandfather just turned 93 and grandmother 90, God Bless em!

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Posted By: Chris Counts

Two of the four oldest players, Lonny Frey and Billy Werber, were starters on the Reds '39-40 pennant winners, and from what I understand, they are close friends to this day ... also, a couple years ago I visiting someone in a Monterey, CA senior home, and, on a whim, I asked an employee, "Do you have any ballplayers here?" I was told, "Sure, there's a guy here that people call "Old Reliable." You can imagine my surprise at finding Tommy Henrich living in my neighborhood!

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Posted By: James Feagin

Billy Werber,

First Duke All-American in basketball, first player to appear in a live baseball game on television, last living teammate of Babe Ruth. Led the American League in stolen bases. Great player.

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Posted By: Joseph

And the oldest BASEBALL CARDS depicting a living player (as far as I can tell--I didn't try too hard) are the 1934 Goudeys featuring Werber & Frey!

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Posted By: barrysloate

Joseph- I am pretty sure you are correct.

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

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Posted By: Mark Macrae

Although I'm not sure if he is the oldest, Billy Raimondi was in the 1933 B & W Zeenut set. He broke in with Oakland in '32. At 94 1/2 he still gets out regularly and according to his family (that I spoke with on Saturday) is doing great. Emil Mailho, of the 1932 Zeenut set just passed away a few months back.

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Posted By: Tim Newcomb

As a longtime fan of the 1939-40 Reds team and the W711 sets, I note with amazement that not only are Frey and Werber still with us, but also Nino Bongiovanni and Eddie Joost. All four are in the 1939 W711 set. There's still time to get some autographs!

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Posted By: Glenn

Werber and...the Ghanan flag?

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Posted By: Larry

The sad part is that they're so old now, they probably don't even know who they are anymore.

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Posted By: Rich Klein

Sometimes the old players are as sharp as ever. As of last year, and I do understand a lot can happen in a year, Werber was sharp enough to collaborate with Paul Rogers on an autobiography issued by SABR.

Obviously, sometimes they are not as sharp as they once were. Either way, we should commend them for what they did all those years ago.

Regards
Rich

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Posted By: John H.

A lot of old-timers are sharp as a tack right to their dying day. Dom DiMaggio is 90 and sounded like a man 20-30 years younger in a recent two part interview on the weekly "Red Sox Stories" program. Same with Johnny Pesky, who is almost as old.

John

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Posted By: Max Weder

John

I couldn't agree more. Here's a shot of Ernie Kershaw, who pitched for the Vancouver Capilanos of the Western International League in 1939 and now is 97. This picture was taken when Ernie was 93, still driving (only during the day) and playing table tennis. At 97, Ernie still lives in his own home with his wife Helen of many years. He attended opening day at Class A in Vancouver. Simply an amazing man, who taught for many years, and seems to remember all his former students.

Max

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Posted By: Brett

Whoever said "The sad part is that they're so old now, they probably don't even know who they are anymore."

Thats not true. Some peoples memories are sharp as a tac at a very old age. My uncle was probably the last living person who saw Babe Ruths first homerun on Toronto Island in the International League. He said he remembered seeing Ty Cobb play also. He was also driving into his 90's. That was a hell of a long time ago. He could tell you what he was doing during whatever day during the Second World War when he was overseas. Ofcource, some of those he didn't finish telling for obvious reasons.

Some people lose their mind alot younger than others, but to make a statement "The sad part is that they're so old now, they probably don't even know who they are anymore." is just ignorant. Hell, there was a World War 1 German solder who was taking care of himself, living in his own home at the age of 109 and was fully "all there"

You are only as old as you feel !

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Posted By: Jason L

Gene Handley...

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Posted By: Lee Behrens

Check out Connie Marrero #6, he was 39 as a rookie and played 5 seasons he had a lifetime ERA of 3.67. He was a Cuban so he might have defected and explains the late bloomer.

Ryan any help here with his Cuban history?

Lee

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Posted By: Max Weder

Kit Krieger of Vancouver runs baseball tours to Cuba every year. He is good friends with Connie Marrero http://www.cubaballtours.com/ and Connie is apparently still going strong, chomping on a big cigar.

Max

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Posted By: Lee Behrens

OOOPPPSSS!!!!! I have been informed that there was no reason to defect since Cuba was still an open country at that time. So did he not play earlier because his skin color?

Lee