In an article by Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe that also showed up on mlbtraderumors, Dennis "Oil Can" Boyd has declared that he wants to play baseball again at the ripe age of 49. Granted we ought to be used to this with Rickey Henderson and Julio Franco trying to play well into their 50s as position players. But Mr. Boyd strikes me as a little bit different.
For one, his career was far shorter than these other guys. He was a pitcher, but his career only spanned 9 years in the majors. He did continue to play everywhere from Puerto Rico to Mexico to the Northern League since then, but he generally faced nowhere near the wear and tear that guys like Henderson and Franco did. And two, according to Mike Stanley and himself, his stuff is still electric. Boyd says that his 12-6 Curve and his Changeup have returned and that he's throwing in the low 90s, while Stanley claims that Boyd is throwing "no different to me than when I caught him in Texas." A bit hard to believe that nothing has changed, but still impressive for a guy to be throwing at 49 like he did at 31. Especially when that guy had a lifetime ERA of 4.04, which isn't too shabby for a former 90's Texas Ranger pitcher.
Oil Can Boyd's hero has always been Satchel Paige, the famous pitcher who played well into old age after debuting in the MLB at 42. And while Boyd is certainly no Paige, he was a pretty decent player who has stayed active and has a lot of passion for the game. I understand not wanting to take a chance on an old fogey because developing some young pitcher makes a lot more baseball sense. But I'd love to see Boyd get a spring training invite somewhere, if only for all of us that miss Julio Franco.
"Oil Can" Boyd to return to MLB? If he had his way...
