Hooray for Julio Franco

Sports Prof gets excited when players of his vintage perform amazing feats and is somewhat remiss that he did not herald the perfect game of Randy Johnson. Note the use of the word "somewhat", however, because SportsProf doesn't always try to write about the things that everyone else is writing about. Randy Johnson, at his advanced age, still draws a lot of press, as does Roger Clemens.

But 45 year-old journeymen, 45 year-old part-time players, are about as rare as a player with a personality on the professional men's tennis circuit. Last night, Julio Franco, at 45 the ageless sometimes first baseman for the rather ordinary Atlanta Braves, hit a grand slam off of his old (and I mean, old) team, the Phillies, thereby becoming the oldest player in Major League history ever to hit a grand slam home run.

Franco's heroics, however, shouldn't inspire comeback thoughts from any long-since-retired professional athletes. Boxing has had them, thereby making a suspect sport worse. Still, we'll take these heroics when we can get them, so hoory for Julio!