Oldest player in baseball to make a comeback after retiring?

Answer 1

Phil Nierko played until he was 50.

Answer 2

If you mean a player who simply makes a token appearance in a game later in life, in the Majors that would be Satchel Paige, who made a token appearance with the Athletics in 1964 at age 58. Overall in pro ball, the oldest is Buck O'neill, who made a token appearance in a Northern League game last year at the age of 95!

If you mean a player who retired and susequently returned and played pretty much a full season...I'm not sure. Julio Franco never actually retired, he just played overseas and in Mexico for a while. I know Ryne Sandberg retired in 1994 at age 34 and subsequently returned for the 1996 and 1997 seasons, but I doubt he was the oldest...

Answer 3

Minnie Minoso. Minoso played in the 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s. He wanted to become the only player to play in 5 decades, so he appeared and had a couple of at bats in 1980 at a very old age -- at age 55.
He initally retired in the mid 1960s. He played again in 1976 for a few games before appearing the final time in 1980.
He got a hit.

Answer 4

Minnie Minoso was the first one I thought of.

Jim Bouton was gone a few years when he made his comeback with the Braves.

I remember also that Jim Palmer tried a brief comeback after being in the hall of fame, but didn't make it back. Jimmie Foxx, one of the all-time great hitters later appeared as a pitcher.

Answer 5

Everyone previously named made only token appearances after "retiring". Look at Jose Rijo; he retired at age 30 in 1995, and even received votes for the Hall of Fame and then he made a comback in 2001 and 2002 to pitch again for Cincy. He's the only player to get votes for the HOF and then return to play again in a full season. NOTE: Niekro was only 48 when he last played.

Answer 6

In MLB, even though they were little more than PR stunts, we have three near-senior citizens getting a wee bit of playing time:

Satchel Paige, who pitched for the Indians and Browns from 1948-53 after a long career in the ***** Leagues, had a one-game appearance with the Kansas City Athletics in 1965 at reported age 58.

Minnie Minoso played in 1976 (age 50) and 1980 (age 54) after ending his real career in 1964.

Nick Altrock's "real" career ended after 1909 (age 32), but he kept making token appearances as both a hitter and a pitcher, all for the Washington Senators -- one game in 1912, four games in 1913, one in 1914, one in 1915 (age 38). And then his PT started getting really erratic: five games in 1918, one in 1919 (0.0 innings pitched, and didn't bat), made his last mound appearance in one game in 1924, then had one plate appearance in each of 1929, 1931, and 1933 (age 56). We just don't see that sort of career profile any more.... (I don't know what Altrock's full story is, maybe a long-time coach who was used, very sparingly, as a fill-in or time-killer.)

Stats for all men are official.

Answer 7

Fergie Jenkins?