The following contains a list of
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
players who lived to the age of 100. For other baseball players and others associated with baseball who were centenarians, see
List of centenarians (sportspeople)
The following is a list of centenarians – specifically, people who became famous as sportspeople — known for reasons other than their longevity. For more lists, see lists of centenarians.
References
{{Longevity
Centenarians
A centena ...
. For other lists of centenarians, see
lists of centenarians
The following is a list of lists of well documented famous centenarians by categorized occupation (people who lived to be or are currently living at 100 years or more of age) that are therein known for reasons other than just longevity.
Famous ...
.
Actuarial considerations
No major league player reached the age of 100 until . Although that might seem anomalous because more than 10,000 players had appeared in the major leagues by then, it also has to be considered that
Harry Wright
William Henry "Harry" Wright (January 10, 1835 – October 3, 1895) was an English-born American professional baseball player, manager, and developer. He assembled, managed, and played center field for baseball's first fully professional team, t ...
was the oldest player during the first season of the
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...
in , at age 41, so he could not have reached age 100 until . The majority of ballplayers in 1876 could not have lived to age 100 until after , and there had not been enough players for a reasonable statistical expectation of one becoming a centenarian until the 1970s.
Actuarial data
A study by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company that assessed the vital statistics of more than 10,000 baseball players and general mortality rates in the United States concluded that players whose careers began between 1876 and experienced only 97% expected mortality, those who debuted between and had only 64% expected mortality, and those who debuted between and 1973 experienced only 55% of expected deaths. As early as the 1930s, big league players were exhibiting either a healthy worker effect or the health benefits of the rigorous fitness regimens of professional athletes, or both. However, in this study, vital data on baseball players were limited to those available in the Baseball Encyclopedia. Other smaller studies have shown similar results for players who debuted between and and between 1900 and .
One large study examining major league ballplayers with debuts from 1902 and 2004 found that their expected lifespan was almost five years longer than average 20-year-old American males, and that career length was inversely associated with the risk of death, probably because those who play ball longer gained additional income, physical fitness, and training.
The ballplayers
In the on-deck circle
The next oldest living former major leaguer is
Art Schallock
Arthur Lawrence Schallock (born April 25, 1924) is an American former left-handed pitcher who played with the New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles from 1951 to 1955.
Early life
Art Schallock was born in 1924, the fourth child and second son of ...
(born April 25, 1924), currently aged .
See also
References
{{reflist, 30em
Major
Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...
Centenarians
A centenarian is a person who has reached the age of 100 years. Because life expectancies worldwide are below 100 years, the term is invariably associated with longevity. In 2012, the United Nations estimated that there were 316,600 living centen ...