For those of us who came of baseball age in the late 90s and early 2000s, the name Julio Franco means something; for many who played EA Sports’ MVP Baseball Series from 2003-2005, he was the Braves’ 44-46 year old First Baseman with a wacky batting stance that could only be rivaled by the likes of Tony Batista and Craig Counsell. But the more one looks at his overall career, the more one sees how unique and underrated it was.
Called up by the Phillies at the age of 23 in 1982, Franco was not the First Baseman most of us know him as, but rather a middle infielder; in fact, he played more games each at second base and shortstop in his career than he did anywhere else, though he did also make appearances at third and both corner outfield spots as well. His overall stat line is a unique mix of “that’s pretty decent” and “wow, he did that?!? Because while over the course of his twenty-three-year career Franco only hit 173 HR, driving in 1194 RBI and scoring 1285 runs, his career batting average finalized at .298, as he collected an impressive 2586 hits.
Lest one think, however, that Franco was able to achieve such a high hits total because of his lengthy career, do not be deceived; for it was over the course of 15 seasons (ages 23-38) where most of the damage occurred, and impressive damage it was. During those 15 years (though one can argue it is more like 13, given he only played a combined 52 games in 1982 and 1992 and missed his 36-year-old season entirely), Julio batted .301 with 141 HR, 981 RBI, 2177 H, 335 2B and 260 SB.
After taking his 39-year-old season off, he returned for one game at age 40, spent his 41-year-old year away from the diamond, and then returned to play from ages 42-49. During that time, the old man batted a still impressive .285, racking up 409 hits, 32 HR, 213 RBI, 72 2B, 7 Triples and 21 SB! Perhaps just as impressive is the fact that from ages 43-46, Franco played in over 100 games each season.
CHICAGO-UNDATED 1986: Julio Franco of the Cleveland Indians throws during a MLB game at Comiskey Park in Chicago, Illinois. Franco played for the Cleveland Indians from 1983-1988 & 1997. (Photo by Ron Vesely/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
This span of success, taking place over what is considered to be an expected time period for good-to-great players (15 seasons), shows not only that he was good, but the addition of eight further seasons shows just how hard it is to achieve the hallowed 3000 hits; one does not simply “stick around” long enough to do it. There are countless other examples we can use to prove that point, but Franco’s length of career, plus age, highlights it well.
But as always, It’s not just overall stats that prove Franco’s value, but his individual seasons and accomplishments as well; for example, over the course of his prime playing days, Julio was a three-time All Star, five-time Silver Slugger Award winner, and finished in the MVP race multiple times. In the 1991 season, he led the league with a .341 batting average, and eclipsed the 90 RBI mark 3 times, and the 80 RBI mark 5 times. While not an absolute burner, Franco stole 30 or more bases 4 times, and he eclipsed a .300 average in 8 seasons where he played 100 games or more.
ANAHEIM, CA – JULY 11: Julio Franco (L) of the Texas Rangers and Cal Ripken Jr. #8 (R) of the Baltimore Orioles poses together for this photograph July 11, 1989 at the Major League Baseball AllStar game at Anaheim Stadium in Anaheim, Ca. The American League beat the National League 5 -3. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)
A testament to just how good of a player he was – though he would never be counted among the best – is that in the 112 games he played during the 1994 strike season, at the age of 35, Franco batted .319 with 20 HR and 98 RBI, along with a .406 OBP; with numbers like that, who knows what he would have finished with in an additional 30–40 games? But that is a question for the alternative history folks out there, in reality, we will never know.
In the final game of his career, September 17, 2007, at the newly minted age of 49, Franco had one at-bat against the Florida Marlins in a game won by the Braves 11-6. Pinch-hitting for the pitcher, Peter Moylan in the bottom of the 8th, Julio rapped an RBI single to right off of Lee Gardner, scoring Kelly Johnson, and putting a cap on a truly outstanding career.
