who is the oldest person to sign their first professional baseball contract.?

Question

In other words, not someone like Julio Franco. I mean like a real life "The Rookie" kind of thing. They were signed to their first contract older than an average player is normally drafted.

yeah, I realized about a second after I posted this that "The Rookie" was probably based on a true story (although it was actually about Jim Morris who pitched for Tampa Bay in 1999 and 2000). Buck O'neil Doesn't count, that was more of a publicity stunt. I'm looking for a legit signing.

Answer 1

The answer probably is Satchel Paige. The "probably" is that no one was too sure how old Satchel was when he signed with the Indians in the 1940's. He is listed as 42, but even he never seemed to be sure. Paige helped the Indians win the 1948 championship.

Answer 2

Because if you put Jackson (and Rose) in then you're basically saying "it's ok to gamble on baseball. If you're good enough we'll overlook that and put you in the Hall of Fame anyway". Baseball was almost ruined in the early 1900's because of gambling. The 1919 World Series was the last straw. The owners voted to have Landis come in and straighten out the situation and he did. A lot of people don't realize this but Tris Speaker and Ty Cobb came very close to be banned from baseball as well when they made an agreement on the last game of the season (I believe it was the 1926 season and I think it was to determine 3rd place). As a result they both were not able to return to their teams. Jackson may have played a good series (he hit the only home run) but he agreed to the fix and I've read somewhere where most of his hits were when they were way behind or with nobody on base. Sometime I plan on breaking down each at bat to see if that's true or not. Because of the actions and consequences of Jackson and Rose, it will be a long time before a player or manager bets on baseball or tries to pre-determine the outcome of a game.

Answer 3

well unless i am mistaken that movie was based on the career of Doug Jones, he pitched for numerous teams thru out his career and was an all star from ?? 1988 thru 1994??
his specialty was relief pitcher and he had over 300 saves

Answer 4

THE OLDEST PERSON TO EVER SIGN A PRO FESSIONAL BASEBALL CONTRACT WAS BUCK O'NEIL . HE SIGNED A ONE DAY CONTRACT WITH THE KANSAS CITY T-BONE AT THE AGE OF 94. HE BATTED TWICE AND WAS WALKED BOTH TIMES. HE HAD PLAYED MANY YEARS IN THE ***** LEAGUE AND DONE SOME COACHING LATER IN HIS LIFE IN THE PROS.