Look: MLB star is so old he pitched against nearly 33% of current managers
Very few rotund, 44-year-old men are able to play baseball at the professional level.
Even fewer are able to throw seven perfect innings against the defending world champions, sending the baseball world into a frenzy.
Actually, there’s probably only one player who can do that second thing: Texas Rangers pitcher Bartolo Colon.
Colon, who turns 45 next month, has had a long and storied major-league career. The four-time All-Star debuted with the Indians in 1997, and ended up playing parts of six seasons for Cleveland.
Following short stints with the White Sox and Expos, Colon landed in Los Angeles, where he won the 2005 American League Cy Young Award with the Angels.
After four years with the Angels, Colon played for the Red Sox, White Sox, Yankees and Athletics, before becoming something of a folk hero with the New York Mets.
In New York, Colon was immensely popular not just because of his merits as a pitcher, but because he had a knack for making improbable things happen. (Colon’s first major-league home run in 2016, which Mets announcer Gary Cohen called “one of the great moments in baseball history,” comes to mind.)
Needless to say, Colon has done it all throughout his illustrious 21-year career. And according to MLB.com’s Cut 4, not only has he played for 11 total teams, he’s also pitched against nearly one-third of the current managers in baseball.
Colon has particularly great numbers against Philadelphia Phillies manager Gabe Kapler, who he has struck out seven times in 28 plate appearances.
The other current managers who have faced Colon in a game include Alex Cora (Boston Red Sox), AJ Hinch (Houston Astros) Aaron Boone (New York Yankees), Dave Martinez (Washington Nationals), Paul Molitor (Minnesota Twins), Mike Matheny (St. Louis Cardinals), Craig Counsell (Milwaukee Brewers) and Scott Servais (Seattle Mariners).
Of that list, three managers — Hinch, Cora and Kapler — are actually younger than Colon. In fact, Colon is older than a total of six current MLB managers.
Bartolo Colon is older than 6 current big league managers
— Céspedes Family BBQ (@CespedesBBQ) April 16, 2018
Overall, 9 1/2 current managers have faced Colon, according to Cut 4.
Why 9 1/2 and not 10? Well, back in 2001, when Colon was with the Indians, he threw a pitch over Servais’ head and was promptly thrown out of the game. Thus, the plate appearance didn’t technically count.
Hinch, meanwhile, could only watch helplessly on Sunday as Colon no-hit his club through seven innings, but he did a bit more than that 16 years ago, when he took Colon deep.
Colon has given up a lot of home runs in his career — 408 to be exact — but he also has 240 career wins.
A Hall-of-Fame-worthy career? For that question to be answered, Colon will first have to retire, and it’s anyone’s guess when that will happen.
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