Happy Birthday, Julio Franco

Atlanta’s first baseman, Julio Franco, turns 47 today. Dear lord. I can’t even imagine what that’s like.

Franco was drafted by Philadelphia in June 1978. I bet half the league wasn’t even born then. He debuted for Phillies as a shortstop in 1982. To put that in perspective, also on that Phillies team were Pete Rose (born 1941), Mike Schmidt (born 1949) and Steve Carlton (born 1944).

Then next year, Franco was traded to Cleveland. Ironically, the Phillies’ manager, Pat Corrales, also went to the Indians. At this time, the Indians weren’t very good, but they had some top-notch players like Franco and Joe Carter, who later became break out stars. In 1984, Franco led the league in at bats, and came in fifth in hits. In 1986, he batted .306, then .319 in 1987. In 1988, he moved to second base, and even got a tiny smattering of MVP votes.

After five years in Cleveland, Franco was traded to the Texas Rangers right as the George W. Bush era was beginning. Julio had his best years in Texas. He made the all-star team for three straight years. In 1990, the all-star game in Wrigley Field was scoreless through six innings. Sandy Alomar led off the AL seventh with a single, followed by another single from Lamar Parrish. Franco was due up next, but the game was halted for a 68-minute rain delay. When play resumed, Franco smacked a double scoring both Alomar and Parrish. He won MVP honors as that was the only scoring of the game.

Franco’s best year was 1991. He won the batting crown with a .341 average. He collected 201 hits, and stole 36 bases. In 1994, Franco was traded to the White Sox. He was probably on his way to a better year than 1991, but the players strike put an end to that. When the season ended, Franco was batting .319 and he had 20 home runs, the most in his career.

Then Julio’s career started to hit some snags. He missed 1995, and in 1996 went back to Cleveland where he hit .322 in just 112 games. That also marked his first post-season appearance, but the Indians were bounced in the ALDS by the Orioles. In the middle of the 1997 season, he was traded to Milwaukee. He missed all of 1998, had one at bat for Tampa Bay in 1999 and then missed all of 2000.

Most players would hang it up, but not Julio Franco. On August 31, 2001, the Atlanta Braves bought him from the Mexico City Tigers. The Braves used him at first base and in 25 games, he batted .300. Atlanta won the division title, and knocked off Houston in the ALDS, but lost to Arizona in the NLCS. Franco hit home runs in both series.

The Braves decided to keep Franco at first base. He played 125 games in 2002, 103 in 2003 and 125 in 2004. Each year, he’s raised his batting average. Last year, Franco batted an amazing .309. This year, he’s hitting .298 in 84 games. He went 0-for-4 today against the Cubs, but he’ll certainly be playing in this year’s post-season.

All told, Franco has 2,513 hits in 21 major league seasons through Tuesday. He also has 3,833 hits in 29 seasons in the minors, majors, Japan, Korea and Mexico. Happy Birthday, Julio!

Posted by on August 24th, 2005 at 8:51 pm


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