LeBron James leads list of older players who remained great،
LeBron James is in his 21st season, but he’s still capable of being the best player on the court.
On Friday night, James put on a basketball masterclass, scoring 32 points with 11 rebounds and six assists in a win over the Phoenix Suns. The 38-year-old Los Angeles Lakers star looked shaken in the first quarter, limping along the baseline after a foul. But then he turned it on, pushing the Lakers to the comeback victory.
James’ dominance at his age is something to behold, but it’s not entirely unprecedented. Here is a short list of other athletes who have defied Father Time.
NFL
Tom Brady
Perhaps the most notable recent example of an athlete who continued long after most others had retired, Brady won four of his seven rings after turning 37. In his penultimate season at age 44, he led the league in yards (5,316) and touchdowns (43). From his age-40 season until the end of his career, Brady threw 193 touchdowns with a 65.6 completion percentage and won the MVP award.
Peyton Manning
Manning missed the entire 2011 season after undergoing neck surgery, and the Indianapolis Colts moved on from him after that year. After signing with the Denver Broncos during his age-36 season, he then demonstrated that the Colts might have been a little premature in their decision.
Over the final four seasons of his Hall of Fame career, Manning totaled 17,112 yards, 140 touchdowns and 53 interceptions. While injuries and inconsistencies marred his final season, Manning put it all together once again in the postseason to lead Denver to victory in Super Bowl 50.
NBA
Kareem Abdul Jabbar
The Lakers Hall of Famer was still putting up big numbers late in his career, averaging 23.4 points, 6.1 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game during his age-38 season. He would win three of his six rings after the age of 37 and win the NBA Finals MVP award in the 1984-85 contest.
WNBA
Sue Bird
Although she recently retired, Bird was a force even at the end of her long and storied career. She made the All-Star Game in four of her last five seasons and led the Seattle Storm to WNBA titles in 2018 and 2020. Bird averaged 7.1 assists per game during her age-37 season , the highest mark in a single season of his career.
Taurasi was a standout for the Phoenix Mercury for 19 full seasons, and she didn’t slow down much in her later years. She made the All-Star Games in her age 36 and 39 seasons and averaged 16 points per game, 4.6 assists per game and 3.6 rebounds per game during her age 41 season.
MLB
Barry Bonds
In many ways, the San Francisco Giants slugger broke baseball. We all know he hit 73 homers in his age-36 season, sparking a streak of four consecutive MVP awards, but it was his age-39 season in 2004 that truly boggled the mind.
Bonds had a .609 on-base percentage that year, 140 points higher than the next player (Todd Helton). Part of the reason was teams’ fear of facing him: of his 232 (!) walks, 120 (!!) of them were intentional. Even in his final season, at age 42, Bonds was sixth in the league in OPS with a mark of 1.045.
Willie Stargell
Pops was the heart and soul of the Pittsburgh Pirates, and nowhere was that more evident than in his late 30s. After a down year in 1976 where his OPS fell to .797, Stargell came back strong, posting three straight seasons with an OPS above .900.
In 1979, Stargell hit 32 home runs and won the National League MVP award, but he saved his best for the playoffs. Stargell hit .415 in the 1979 NLCS and World Series combined, with five homers, six doubles and 13 RBIs as he led the Pirates to an epic seven-game victory over the Baltimore Orioles. He would win MVP honors in the NLCS and World Series.
Hank Aaron
Hammerin’ Hank might have been the most consistent player in baseball history, hitting about 40 home runs a year in almost all of his 23 seasons with the Atlanta Braves and Milwaukee Brewers. His season at age 37 might have been his best at the plate, with a career-high 47 home runs and 1.079 OPS. He followed that up with 40 homers and a 1.045 OPS at age 39. Aaron would break Babe Ruth’s all-time home run record just a few games into the following season.
David Ortiz
Ortiz’s OPS fell from 1.066 in his age-31 season to .794 in his age-33 season, the kind of trend that spells early retirement for big hitters. However, he bounced back well and his last few seasons were among the best of his career.
A lifelong World Series star, Ortiz might have surpassed himself in 2013, when he was 37 years old. He hit .688 with a 1.948 OPS en route to winning the World Series MVP. Even in his final season at age 40, Ortiz was still a force, leading the league in OPS (1.021), doubles (48) and RBI (127).
Nolan Ryan
Nolan Ryan and Deleting People: Name a better duo. This maxim held true even into his 40s: Ryan led the league in strikeouts every year from his 40s to his 43s. The Ryan Express would continue to run until he was 46 years old.
Roger Clemens
Clemens put on a power throwing clinic as he entered his 40s. Clemens became the oldest Cy Young winner in 2004, winning the award a few months after turning 42 by going 18-4 with a 2.98 ERA. He could have been even better the following season, dropping his ERA to 1.97 and allowing just 6.4 hits per nine innings.
Randy Johnson
At an age when most pitchers are slowing down, Randy Johnson was just getting started. Over four seasons from age 35 to 38, he posted the following line: 81-27, a 2.48 ERA, 12.4 SO/9 and just 0.9 HR/9. Not surprisingly, he won the Cy Young Award four straight times during that stretch. He would add a World Series title and MVP during his age 37 season in 2001.
Even though he’ll never reach those heights again, his age-39-to-retirement numbers during his age-45 season (79-60, 3.91 ERA, 9 SO/9) are nothing to sneeze at .
Paige bag
Although we now know that Satchel Paige was 45 years old in 1952, people at the time were unsure of her exact date of birth. Regardless, he was a force for the St. Louis Browns that season, throwing a league-leading 35 complete games, going 12-10 with a 3.07 ERA and becoming the first black pitcher to make an AL All-Star team.
Incredibly, Paige would return for a one-game appearance with the Kansas City Athletics in 1965, when he was 58 years old. He pitched three innings, striking out one and giving up just one hit, before leaving to a standing ovation.
NHL
Wayne Gretzky
It is said that if Gretzky had never scored a goal in the NHL, he would still be number one all-time in points, just in assists. Even in the final years of his career, The Great One still managed to find the open man. He led the league in assists in his seasons at age 36 and 37, and finished sixth in the league in his final year at age 38.
