Mets sign Franco for two years
I am not surprised at the level of interest teams had in Julio Franco. I am surprised someone signed him for two seasons, meaning the contract won't run out until he's pushing 49. Franco is quickly becoming the Ric Flair of Major League Baseball -- supposedly too old for the industry, but too good to be kept out of it.
I can hear my brother now ...
"There you go, bringing everything back to wrestling."
Still, Franco is an amazing player. Consider that the Indians thought he was done in 1997. They cut him in August and he ended up with the directionless Brewers. At that point, I figured his career was over.
And it seemed to be, especially when he did not play in 1998, and had only one at-bat for the 1999 Devil Rays.
Think about that. The DEVIL RAYS didn't think he was good enough.
But Franco just didn't go away. He returned in 2001, surfacing in Atlanta, where he would spend the next five seasons as a first baseman and bat off the bench.
The man had his first at-bat in 1982. Ronald Reagan was President, in his second year in office. The Clash put out Combat Rock and the movie Gandhi came out.
We've been through 23 years, four presidents, five ESPN networks, two Ken Griffeys, two Popes, four new baseball teams, four new football teams, eight original Rolling Stones albums, Live Aid, two Woodstocks, two Tonight Show hosts, 37 David Bowie hairstyles and 10 Cleveland Indians managers.
But Julio is still in the cages, preparing for April.
No need to face the strange Mr. Franco, your retirement is one ch-ch-change I won't be looking forward to.