Question about Julio Franco's age

[DamnTheCowboys]

I've been wondering this ever since the Braves dug him out of the Iranian league or wherever he was playing at the end of 2001.....

On all the websites (espn.com, mlb.com, cbssportsline, etc) he is listed as being born August 23rd, 1958.   

I've always thought he was born on August 23rd, 1961.    I even wrote that date on my log sheet I made back in the day of every RBI player and his birthdate and age.  I still have that sheet in my parents' basement and occasionally before my bro and I will play a game, we'll browse through the sheet and see if it's anyone's b-day so that we can honor said b-day by playing with that player's team.   And, if say it's Gene Larkin's birthday, we'll give him the start over Lombardozzi.

Anyway, I own several Scouting Reports (all from the 1980s) and they list Julio as being born in '61.    It seems like all of this info changed when he went to play in Japan.    All of the sudden he manned up and told the truth(?) 
Or did he lie and make himself 3 years older so that he could make his own legend grow and have people go "WOAHHH!!! the 46 year old Wonder!!"

Someone needs to stick a gun to his head and get him to spill his guts as to what his actual age is.   

[Nacho]

Good investigative reporting, DTC.  I especially like your way of honoring RBIers on their birthdays.  Do you use the Angels on the anniversary of Donnie Moore's birth, or death?

[DamnTheCowboys]

  Do you use the Angels on the anniversary of Donnie Moore's birth, or death?

Ironically Donnie Moore and I share the same birthday (he's older though).

I did not write his death date on there.

Everytime it's deep in the game and it reaches the 9th and Moore is the last pitcher remaining, we will say, "Uh Oh, time to bring in Dead Man Donnie"

[ultimate7]

I wonder about Julio's age also, it was/is common for Latin American players to lie about their age at original signing to make themselves younger (and hence more desired to MLB teams), so it is possible that he lied initially and now the actual DOB is 1958, I don't know if we'll ever know for certain.

[DamnTheCowboys]

God only knows how old Fernando Valenzuela actually is.

Here's a picture of him in 1981, at age 20 (allegedly):




More like 35.

[Stock]

I even wrote that date on my log sheet I made back in the day of every RBI player and his birthdate and age.  I still have that sheet in my parents' basement and occasionally before my bro and I will play a game, we'll browse through the sheet and see if it's anyone's b-day so that we can honor said b-day by playing with that player's team.   

Do you have an electronic version of said sheet.  I love the idea and would like to try it out.

[Big Hath]

I wonder about Julio's age also, it was/is common for Latin American players to lie about their age at original signing to make themselves younger (and hence more desired to MLB teams), so it is possible that he lied initially and now the actual DOB is 1958, I don't know if we'll ever know for certain.

yeah, all these players become 3-5 years older instantaneously when the US made it tougher to cross borders after 9-11

[DamnTheCowboys]

Do you have an electronic version of said sheet.  I love the idea and would like to try it out.

I do not, sorry.  Basically what I did was take my Scouting Report 1987 one day and I went through and listed each player starting from the youngest to the oldest.   

Santiago is the youngest, then I think it's Burks, Gooden, Eric King, etc.

I believe Sutton is the oldest

[ultimate7]

I even wrote that date on my log sheet I made back in the day of every RBI player and his birthdate and age.  I still have that sheet in my parents' basement and occasionally before my bro and I will play a game, we'll browse through the sheet and see if it's anyone's b-day so that we can honor said b-day by playing with that player's team.   

Do you have an electronic version of said sheet. I love the idea and would like to try it out.

Stock, I have something similar in spreadsheet form that I believe I have posted, I see if I can find it.

[DamnTheCowboys]

So is he 47 or 44?   Or does it matter?

[OctoFranco]

I'm pretty sure I have Julio baseball cards with conflicting birth years for him.  I do remember though that the TBS announcers kept joking about his "official" age when he first signed with Atlanta in 2001, maybe it was only after the lid was blown off it that he finally 'fessed up to his actual year tally...

Everytime it's deep in the game and it reaches the 9th and Moore is the last pitcher remaining, we will say, "Uh Oh, time to bring in Dead Man Donnie"

I think it's actually pretty remarkable that a full 17 years later, of 160 players in RBI baseball, only one of them is dead.  Especially when you consider that their current ages would be ranging from 40 all the way up to 60 (in Sutton's case).

So get your autographs now because they're going to be dropping like flies pretty soon.  You should probably start with Straw.

(Edit: minimum age corrected)

[Nacho]

Who will be the next to die?  This should be a puhl.

I'll vote Gooden.

[Gantry]

I think there was a thread about it somewhere...

Basically Franco lied about his age, then fessed up when he returned to the MLB after his stints in the Mexican and California Penal League...

[Reds]

try

http://forums.dee-nee.com/index.php?topic=801.0