Jim Eriotes becomes oldest pro baseball player at 83
Eriotes led off Tuesday’s game for the Canaries against the St. Joe (Mo.) Blacksnakes and took four big swings — even fouling a pitch off — before striking out.
The at-bat made Eriotes the oldest man to ever play professional baseball. It was his only at-bat in the game.
The record didn’t mean much to the Chicago native and former minor leaguer.
“I don’t give a damn about that stuff,” he said, bothered by his failure to reach base. “If I got a couple more at-bats, I’d get a hit. Easy.”
Some people might think this is cute, how an old man got to live out a dream. We at The Sports Dirt couldn’t think of anything more terrifying than watching an 83-year old, looking like he could drop at any minute, swinging a heavy wooden bat, worrying about the consequences of him possibly getting hit by a pitch. What if he swung so hard he wet himself? Or his dentures came flying out? Or worse yet, what if by some miracle he hit the ball and had to run the bases? Or slide?
When you think about it, this isn’t that big a deal. My grandma could strike out on four pitches in the Minors.
