Adrian Beltre is leaving the game of baseball after a long, long career. 21 years as an MLB player is no small feat, and you don’t see many players stick around for that long. In fact, of Big 4 athletes (MLB, NHL, NFL, NBA), there are only 10 remaining athletes that debuted in the 90’s.
Five of them are hockey players, which seems like it would be unlikely. Hockey is definitely a sport that takes a lot of versatility, but older players need to be able to keep up with the young guns. The biggest surprise may be that there is only one baseball player, and that is the one that could be argued as the least physically demanding. Bartolo Colon is holding down the fort, and entertaining everyone thoroughly while doing so.
The two football players on the list are unsurprisingly kickers. It still looks strange when you see Vinatieri standing in full uniform with grey hair though.
Lastly there’s basketball, where Vince Carter and Dirk Nowitzki continue to defy Father Time.
Hockey fans just wish Jaromir Jagr were still on this list.
(H/T u/Sumidiotdude)
