Chipper Jones and Jorge Posada just completed excellent seasons, both being 35 years old.

Here are all seasons since 1901 for 35-year-olds with OPS+ of 150 or better, minimum 500 PA:

  Cnt Player            **OPS+**  PA Year Age Tm  Lg  G   AB  R   H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB IBB  SO HBP  SH  SF GDP  SB CS   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  Positions
+----+-----------------+--------+---+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+
    1 Babe Ruth            211   676 1930  35 NYY AL 145 518 150 186 28  9 49 153 136   0  61   1  21   0   0  10 10  .359  .493  .732 1.225 *97/1
    2 Ted Williams         201   526 1954  35 BOS AL 117 386  93 133 23  1 29  89 136   0  32   1   0   3  10   0  0  .345  .513  .635 1.148 *7
    3 Nap Lajoie           199   677 1910  35 CLE AL 159 591  94 227 51  7  4  76  60   0   0   5  21   0   0  26  0  .384  .445  .514  .959 *43
    4 Barry Bonds          188   607 2000  35 SFG NL 143 480 129 147 28  4 49 106 117  22  77   3   0   7   6  11  3  .306  .440  .688 1.128 *7
    5 Tris Speaker         182   693 1923  35 CLE AL 150 574 133 218 59 11 17 130  93   0  15   4  22   0   0   8  9  .380  .469  .610 1.079 *8
    6 Mark McGwire         177   661 1999  35 STL NL 153 521 118 145 21  1 65 147 133  21 141   2   0   5  12   0  0  .278  .424  .697 1.121 *3
    7 Hank Aaron           177   639 1969  35 ATL NL 147 547 100 164 30  3 44  97  87  19  47   2   0   3  14   9 10  .300  .396  .607 1.003 *9/3
    8 Honus Wagner         176   591 1909  35 PIT NL 137 495  92 168 39 10  5 100  66   0   0   3  27   0   0  35  0  .339  .420  .489  .909 *6/7
    9 Ty Cobb              170   612 1922  35 DET AL 137 526  99 211 42 16  4  99  55   0  24   4  27   0   0   9 13  .401  .462  .565 1.027 *8/9
   10 Chipper Jones        166   600 2007  35 ATL NL 134 513 108 173 42  4 29 102  82  10  75   0   0   5  21   5  1  .337  .425  .604 1.029 *5/D6
   11 Hank Greenberg       163   604 1946  35 DET AL 142 523  91 145 29  5 44 127  80   0  88   0   1   0  17   5  1  .277  .373  .604  .977 *3
   12 Lefty O'Doul         163   657 1932  35 BRO NL 148 595 120 219 32  8 21  90  50   0  20   7   5   0   0  11  0  .368  .423  .555  .978 *7
   13 Jack Fournier        161   649 1925  35 BRO NL 145 545  99 191 21 16 22 130  86   0  39   8  10   0   0   4  6  .350  .446  .569 1.015 *3
   14 Edgar Martinez       158   672 1998  35 SEA AL 154 556  86 179 46  1 29 102 106   4  96   3   0   7  13   1  1  .322  .429  .565  .994 *D/3
   15 Dwight Evans         156   657 1987  35 BOS AL 154 541 109 165 37  2 34 123 106   6  98   3   0   7  10   4  6  .305  .417  .569  .986 *3*9/D
   16 Johnny Mize          156   658 1948  35 NYG NL 152 560 110 162 26  4 40 125  94   0  37   4   0   0   7   4  0  .289  .395  .564  .959 *3
   17 Jim Thome            155   610 2006  35 CHW AL 143 490 108 141 26  0 42 109 107  12 147   6   0   7   4   0  0  .288  .416  .598 1.014 *D/3
   18 Jorge Posada         154   589 2007  35 NYY AL 144 506  91 171 42  1 20  90  74   7  98   6   0   3  18   2  0  .338  .426  .543  .969 *2/D3
   19 Frank Robinson       153   545 1971  35 BAL AL 133 455  82 128 16  2 28  99  72  11  62   9   1   8  21   3  0  .281  .384  .510  .894 *93/7
   20 Joe DiMaggio         151   606 1950  35 NYY AL 139 525 114 158 33 10 32 122  80   0  33   1   0   0  14   0  0  .301  .394  .585  .979 *8/3
   21 Tommy Henrich        151   673 1948  35 NYY AL 146 588 138 181 42 14 25 100  76   0  42   4   5   0  14   2  3  .308  .391  .554  .945 *93/78
   22 Larry Walker         150   553 2002  35 COL NL 136 477  95 161 40  4 26 104  65   6  73   7   0   4   8   6  5  .338  .421  .602 1.023 *9/D
   23 Al Oliver            150   687 1982  35 MON NL 160 617  90 204 43  2 22 109  61  15  59   4   1   4  11   5  2  .331  .392  .514  .906 *3
   24 Mickey Mantle        150   553 1967  35 NYY AL 144 440  63 108 17  0 22  55 107   7 113   1   0   5   9   1  1  .245  .391  .434  .825 *3

Chipper is 10th all time and Posada is 18th. Here's the interesting thing I noticed: if you check out the positions, 15 out of the 24 played at least a game at first base. However, Chipper is the only guy to play even a single game at third base, and Jorge is the only guy to play even a single game at catcher.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 30th, 2007 at 9:38 am and is filed under Season Finders. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.