Baseball is America’s oldest and most storied professional sport. The lengthy history of the game, coupled with its non-contact nature, has made these players by far the oldest to appear in a game in the history of North American sports.
Unfortunately, Baseball Reference does not have a complete history of the Negro Leagues down to their game logs. Any baseball player in the Negro Leagues who did not finish their career in the MLB has their age estimated as close to available records as possible.
[Ed. note: We were not able to find photos of all the players.]
Age: 49 years, 153 days
Teams: Baltimore Orioles, Louisville Colonels, Brooklyn Robins, Philadelphia Phillies, Detroit Tigers
Bet you didn’t know: He was beaned in the head and remained unconscious for three days after; fractured his skull while diving into a pool at night (it was empty); and fractured his skill again after his car overturned. (He also suffered a concussion and several broken bones in the accident).
Age: 49 years, 191 days
Teams: Seattle Mariners, Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs, Baltimore Orioles, Texas Rangers, Colorado Rockies, St. Louis Cardinals
Bet you didn’t know: He was once married to the daughter of former Notre Dame basketball coach Digger Phelps.
Age: 49 years, 302 days
Teams: New York Yankees, St. Louis Browns
Bet you didn’t know: That’s him trying to tag a sliding Ty Cobb.
Age: 49 years, 350 days
Teams: Chicago White Sox, New York Giants, Baltimore Orioles, Atlanta Braves, Los Angeles Dodgers, Cleveland, St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs, California Angels
Bet you didn’t know: He debuted in the majors at 29 and played 21 seasons.
Age: 50 years, 6 days
Teams: New York Yankees, Philadelphia Athletics, Boston Red Sox, Brooklyn Robins, Boston Braves, Chicago White Sox, Baltimore Terrapins
Bet you didn’t know: He played alongside 31 Hall of Famers during his career.
Age: 51
Teams: Brooklyn Royal Giants, Harrisburg Giants, Memphis Red Sox, Chicago American Giants, Birmingham Black Barons, Chicago Columbia Giants
Age: 51
Teams: Cuban Stars East, Chicago American Giants, New York Cubans
Age: 52
Teams: Eastern Colored League Team
Bet you didn’t know: He made his major league debut at age 50.
Age: 56
Teams: Dayton Marcos, Cleveland Tate Stars, Toledo Tigers, St. Louis Stars, Cleveland Elites, Detroit Stars, Memphis Red Sox, Indianapolis ABCs, Nashville Elite Giants, Columbus Elite Giants, Washington Elite Giants, Chicago American Giants, Birmingham Black Barons
Bet you didn’t know: He’s the winningest manager of the Negro League era.
Age: 57 years, 16 days
Teams: Louisville Colonels, Boston Americans, Chicago White Sox, Washington Nationals
Bet you didn’t know: Altrock and Miñoso are the only baseball players to appear in a game in five different decades.
