It was indeed one for the ages, in more ways than one, when Toronto Blues Jays pitcher Max Scherzer moved into rarefied air after a sterling 10-strikeout performance in a series-clinching 7-0 win over the Seattle Mariners on Aug. 30 at the Rogers Centre.
At 42, Scherzer becomes only the second Major Leaguer of his vintage to throw 10 K’s and allow two or fewer baserunners in a game. The legendary Nolan Ryan did it twice in the twilight of his Hall of Fame career, including once against the Blue Jays.
And, as for the rarefied air, Scherzer moved into ninth place, all-time, for MLB strikeouts with 3,535 over the course of his 19-year big league career.
Ryan retired at 46. Does Scherzer have four more years left in the tank?
Meanwhile, on the football field, Bob Cameron and George Blanda retired as the oldest professional players of all-time. Cameron was 48; Blanda, 47.
Both Cameron, who spent 23 seasons in the CFL with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and Blanda, who played in the NFL for five different teams over the course of his 26-year career, were quarterbacks-turned-kickers. And, in 1961 in the old American Football League (prior to the NFL merger), Blanda won MVP honours by doing both. With aplomb.
That season, Blanda QB’ed and kicked for the Houston Oilers (now Tennessee Titans), throwing for 3,330 yards and 36 touchdowns and booting 16 field goals and 64 PAT’s. Blanda kicked his final field goal, a 41-yarder, for the Oakland Raiders (now Las Vegas Raiders) in 1975.
Cameron was a two-way standout as starting quarterback and kicker coming out of Acadia University in 1980 and was chosen by Edmonton sixth overall in the CFL draft. Cut as a backup QB in training camp, Cameron signed with rival Winnipeg as a full-time kicker and went on to set five CFL records that still stand.
Cameron played in 353 consecutive CFL games (Blanda’s career NFL total was 340) and also holds the all-time professional football career records for most punts and most punt yards. By anyone. In any league.
On the basketball court, physical phenom LeBron James has played the most career games in the NBA with 1,622. Soon to be 42, he shows no signs of slowing down.
Martina Navratilova, arguably the greatest player in the history of women’s tennis, won her 177th and last major title (mixed doubles) at the 2006 U.S. Open in her 50th year. Soccer’s Christine Sinclair, who represented Canada at six World Cups, retired at 40 three years ago and is still the highest-scoring female player on the planet with 190 international goals.
And then, of course, there was Gordie Howe. The legendary Mr. Hockey played his final NHL game at 52. Even then, rival defencemen were advised to pack a lunch when Howe crossed their blueline.
The late, great Larry Mavety, longtime GM-coach of the former OHL Belleville Bulls, played against Howe when they were opponents in the rebel WHA before the NHL merger in 1979. Mavety, a rugged rearguard, remembered his own run-ins with Howe. Not fun.
Or, as ‘Mav’ once told me: “I don’t care how old he was. It was Gordie Howe.”
