Goodbye Julio Franco

If you haven’t heard yet; and we’re a few days late on this: Julio Franco has retired. Franco officially hung them up a year from the day he hit his last Major League home run off Randy Johnson, becoming the oldest Major League player to hit a home run.

Franco has been playing since the year we were born. He’s been a fixture, a staple crop in the game that we love. We’ve been fortunate enough to spend a few warm weekend afternoons in the same vicinity as Franco. We even saw him steal 2 bases in the same game.

What we’ll remember about Franco other than of course his longevity is that wicked cool stance that wouldn’t work for anyone but him. That stance was the cause for many a little league strikeout in the late 80’s and early 90’s.

So Julio, thanks for the memories and doing what you did for so long.

Julio Franco’s career statistics [Baseball Reference]