http://www.yardbarker.com/content/player/218 Recent articles about Julio Franco en-us Several influential ex-RedHawks propel the Texas Rangers to a fourth consecutive victory, while the transcendent Josh Hamilton gets a little unexpected something out of his American League Player of the Month award. Sun, 04 May 2008 12:46:49 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/263318 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/263318 That's the headline from the Mexican Baseball League's official site. We've taken their official retirement write-up and translated it over to old fashioned english. Sat, 03 May 2008 15:14:05 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/263139 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/263139 After many, many, many, many years - 49 year old (or 50, or 53, or 46) Julio Franco finally calls it quits and retires. Not much to say about the guy, except that his consistent production was simply amazing. Interesting Fact about Julio: As of 2006, Julio Franco was the only active player to face a pitcher (Jim Kaat) who had pitched against Ted Williams. Sat, 03 May 2008 14:46:19 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/263136 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/263136 I just read that Tejada is 33 going on 34 instead of his believed age of 31...uh-oh, somebody has been lying about more than just HGH. Ed Wade doesn't seem too concerned about this, but underneath his nutface facade he's probably steaming mad that his already showing signs of aging "slugging" shortstop is indeed older than originally reported. Wade could try to blame the O's, but no one knew he was this old except for Miguel himself. That makes me wonder about the legitimaticy of the ages of Jose Mesa and Julio Franco. Thu, 17 Apr 2008 13:02:43 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/240683 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/240683 It looks like Julio Franco has been forced out of MLB yet again. Franco has always dreamed of playing in the Majors at age 50. Currently at age 49, Franco has returned to the Mexican League to try to keep the dream alive. Tue, 01 Apr 2008 06:48:09 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/225757 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/225757 The MLB free agency period has officially began. Fifty-seven players filed papers to become free agents Monday. Big names on the list include: Barry Bonds, Torii Hunter, Alex Rodriguez, Mariano Rivera, Kerry Wood, Trot Nixon, Shawn Green, Paul Lo Duca, and Shannon Stewart. Check out the entire list. Tue, 30 Oct 2007 04:54:29 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/33508 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/33508 It's Craig Biggio's last chance to catch. Lou Piniella's last chance to yell at people. Barry Bonds' last chance to be liked by a team. Julio Franco's last chance to play without AARP eligibility. Mon, 24 Sep 2007 14:48:10 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/28339 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/28339 The ageless Julio Franco is featured in our latest edition of our "War Hero" feature. Read about Julio's storied career that has spanned more than two decades, and learn some fun facts about the man, the myth, the legend. Wed, 01 Aug 2007 18:56:34 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/21835 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/21835 We look at Franco's career and make the case for his "honorary" inclusion in the 3000 hit club. Mon, 30 Jul 2007 15:24:08 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/21532 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/21532 First off, I already made a short post about this on our blog, Nyjer Please. But this post is going to be longer due to the larger audience that Epic Carnival has. Exactly a month ago to this day, our very own Epic Carnival writer and creator of Nyjer Please, Luke Halpert made an "outlandish post" about a racial divide in the Mets clubhouse and said that Julio Franco was the ring leader. No pun intended. Luke's exact words were these: Secondly, Julio Franco, who recently celebrated his 89th birthday, is becoming a "clubhouse cancer". Since the losing streak, my source told me that Franco has become the ringleader of a "racial divide" in the clubhouse between the Latinos and non-Latinos. While it isn't a straight divide, it was painfully obvious there was something going on during last night's debacle at Yankee Stadium, where the Latinos were sitting in the dugout while the non-Latinos were on the dugout railing the entire game. Once these words hit the blogosphere, s*** hit the fan. Over at Metsblog, Matt Cerrone called out Halpert saying that his post was 100% false and the post was all a big lie because he is still in high school. He can also "only assume [Halpert] dropped my site's name so to make an attempt at adding credibility to his post". The Comments section at Metsblog was also furious at the post and here's what one Met fan had to say: Hey luke stop masterb***** while looking at yourself wearing your yankee gear in the mirror and stick to things you know about like zit creme. Perhaps if you kiss Steinbrenners a** well enough he will hook you up with a female yankee chearleader. I heard Susan Waldman is available. 16 year old with a source in the Mets clubhouse hahahahhahahahahahah As you can see, he was bashed pretty bad by some pretty ignorant fans. Some other blogs picked up the story such as Deadspin, The Big Lead, and The Fanhouse and all of a sudden, the post had 10,000 hits. A lot of smaller blogs picked it up too such as The Feed and The Uwe Blog . The guys over at NJ.com had this to say: Deadspin linked to a very-likely-fabricated blog post that claims Julio Franco is the "ringleader" in "a racial divide" in the Mets clubhouse. If Franco was the ringleader of a movement to take naps after batting practice, or to have rocking chairs installed in the clubhouse, I'd maybe believe it. This...not so much. Luke Halpert and myself also used to write for a blog called "Hotfoot". It was a Mets blog run by Anthony De Rosa, and right after the incident, we were both fired. So now that we have that out of the way, last week Julio Franco was designated for assignment by the Mets. That's pretty much a nice word for being cut. Anyway, when Willie Randolph was asked about Franco, Willie said, "that clubhouse stuff is overrated" and Jose Valentin told reporters that Franco was less than eager to participate in the team's pre-game stretching routine. Some of the team's younger guys didn't appreciate Franco giving them advice when he sucked in his own right. To me, that sounds like a Clubhouse Cancer and a guy that didn't get along with most of his team. We're not even asking for an apology, just for our names to be cleared and to not be known as the "Blog that made up those Franco stories". If Cerrone, the Metsblog commentors and or any other blogger does want to apologize though, that's O.K too. Fri, 20 Jul 2007 08:45:12 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/20356 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/20356 From MLB.com: ATLANTA -- Julio Franco is the ultimate veteran presence. With that in mind, the Braves, looking to add experience on the bench for the stretch drive, signed infielder Julio Franco to a contract for the rest of the season on Wednesday. Terms of the deal were not immediately disclosed, and Franco will be activated for Thursday's game against St. Louis. Nobody has more experience than Franco. The 48-year-old is a veteran of 24 Major League seasons, five of them with the Braves. He's the oldest player to ever hit a home run and he has collected 2,576 career hits in 2,512 games. ----- As a Braves fan I actually don't have a problem with this signing on the surface. What terrifies me is Bobby's ability to use Franco properly which should be as a pinch hitter off the bench and veteran leadership in the clubhouse. I don't think I could handle it if Father Time starts taking at bats away from Salty. Thu, 19 Jul 2007 18:25:44 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/20287 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/20287 Listen as T- Money talked various sports subjects, including answering listeners sports related questions. Sun, 15 Jul 2007 18:38:43 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/19756 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/19756 The New York Mets announced on Thursday that they cut popular 48-year-old veteran utility infielder and pinch hitter Julio Franco from their roster. Franco was featured in a blog post last season following his 7th inning homer on April 20 against the San Diego Padres. He later struck a May 4th homer off of Arizona's Randy Johnson. Franco is the oldest player in major league history to homer. Fri, 13 Jul 2007 14:04:01 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/19575 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/19575 While most assumed that the promotion of Lastings Milledge would coincide with Sandy Alomar Jr.'s return to AAA New Orleans, the organization surprisingly has designated Julio Franco for assignment instead. According to MLB.com's Marty Noble, by retaining Alomar, the Mets will be able to find more pinch-hitting at-bats for Ramon Castro, whose status as the team's lone backup catcher restricted his availability as a pinch-hitter. Alomar, meanwhile, will be looked upon to replace the veteran leadership of the departing Franco. According to Noble, Franco is happy about the move. Thu, 12 Jul 2007 20:53:01 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/19519 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/19519 Another great post from "Lion in Oil" blog "When 48-year-old Julio Franco flied out against 44-year-old Roger Clemens ending the second, they became the oldest batter-pitcher matchup in the major leagues since Nick Altrock of the Washington Senators grounded out against the Philadelphia Athletics' Rube Walberg in the 11th inning on Oct. 1, 1933, according to the Elias Sports Bureau" Wed, 20 Jun 2007 09:04:45 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/16739 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/16739