The words "Young" and "Julio Franco" together in one place do not make sense.
Actually, Julio Franco is one of my all time favorite players. He just never seemed to stop, he never seemed old. When he played in Atlanta in 2007, he was in better shape than players half his age. I think he is a Hall of Famer, I could be wrong and he didn't reach a lot of those milestone numbers, but he was consistently good for nearly 25 years. I think the biggest plus for him is his .298 batting average over 25 seasons, and he was still hitting well until his last season (.222).
In 1999, at the age of 40, Julio batted .423 in the Mexican league. If that wasn't enough, a year later he hit .437. Then in 2001 he was back in the Major Leagues.
This is also another card that the ladies at Dinged Corners are sure to like.
The photo on the reverse looks to be taken at the same time as his base release.
Julio Franco's career statistics
3 comments:
Sometimes I feel like you are my protege, Ben. Your analysis of these cards uses some of the techniques that I favor, and I really enjoy your writing. Plus, I also love Julio Franco. I would kill for a Julio Franco bat relic card if anybody has one!
Julio always has been one of my favorites - ever since he was a "young superstar." I have hundreds of different cards from his first time(s) around the bigs, circa 1984-1997. Unfortunately, I mostly got out of the hobby and haven't had a chance to get much of anything newer than 96-97 stuff.
Anyway, thanks for the memories!
I always liked Julio Franco too and was really excited when he signed with Atlanta. Unfortunately I never got to go see him play.
Andy, your 88 Topps site was a bit of inspiration for this. From the day I got into baseball cards, I enjoyed looking for strange and out of place things going on.
Glad you enjoy it.
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