Steve Finley - Old Man Running
After playing for five teams in the last four years, Steve Finley is looking to sign with another team. If he does, he could move up on a few speed related “older” player lists.
Here are the leaders in career triples from the age of 40 (The player’s season in which he is 40 by July 1) and on. With just 3 more, Finley would tie Rose for the most since WWII.
On the old man stolen base list, Finley doesn’t rank as high. However, he is third among active players. It is interesting to contrast the two players ahead of him. Kenny Lofton’s totals are for one season, while Julio Franco’s are for 9.
Finally, here is the list of players who played at least 100 games in center field from their age 40 season and on. Although PI doesn’t tell us how many games they each played in center, we can quickly check this by clicking on the players name in the PI search. In the selected time span, Finley has played 260 games in center field. This makes him the leader ahead of Mays (189), Al Nixon (131), Johnny Cooney(130), and Jimmy Ryan(114).
I hope Steve Finley put in redoubled effort with his Jack LaLanne workout routine after his release last June 15.
I did a check on who was the oldest ever to play one game in center field. The results are referenced below and involve some surprising (for center field) Hall of Famers.
http://www.bb-ref.com/pi/shareit/3JF6
Comment by David in Toledo — January 31, 2008 @ 12:31 pm
Steve Finley hit 12 triples at age 41 in 2006. Only Honus Wagner (17 in 1915) ever hit more at such an advanced age.
Comment by David in Toledo — January 31, 2008 @ 12:38 pm