The minute and half long spot, titled “Made in New York is more catered toward the internet than it is TV. And judging by the reaction to it around the web, it looks like Gatorade has scored the viral hit they were after.

In the spot, Jeter gets out of a town car on his way to Yankee Stadium. He walks through the streets of the Bronx where he is greeted by excited fans. (Who are judging Jeter by his impressive body overall work, not his current .595 OPS.)

When Jeter finally gets to the ballpark he is greeted by an adoring crowd. Frank Sinatra’s legendary hit “My Way” plays throughout the commercial.

Gatorade is giving Jeter as grand a goodbye as any of the teams he terrorized for two decades. In addition to the commercial, Gatorade will also sponsor a full page ad in the New York Daily News and Sports Illustrated on September 28-29, in which Jeter will thank his fans.

Jeter recently passed Cap Anson for sixth on the all-time hit list. Tris Speaker, number five, still has 63 more hits than the Yankee captain at 3514. So Jeter will end his Hall of Fame career in the six spot. Not so bad, especially when you add those 200 postseason hits (and five World Series titles.)

The tour’s most important stop was yesterday, his big official “Derek Jeter Day” send off at Yankee Stadium. Word is the ceremony proved all of us snarkers prescient, because the visuals looked an awful lot like the Yankees were saying so long to somebody who has shuffled off from this mortal coil, not goodbye to a once great player who is currently OPSing .618.

The next player with the potential to get the Jeter-treatment is longtime Red Sox and three-time World Champion David Ortiz, who turns 39 this year. Ortiz is still one of the best hitters in the American League, so it is too soon to talk retirement just yet. But when the time does come, Ortiz doesn’t think his goodbye will set up like the Jeter spectacle. This is what the slugger told ESPN Boston.

“What Derek Jeter is doing is fine because he’s Derek Jeter. What Mariano did is fine because it’s Mariano. But I don’t know if I’m going to go through all that. I’m not going to wake up and be like, ‘I’m going to play this year and then not anymore.’ To me, it’s going to be how things go through the season and how I feel and then I’m going to be like, ‘Mama, it’s over.’ I’m going to let her know,” Ortiz said with a big smile and laugh.

So if Ortiz doesn’t do a goodbye tour, who’s the next player to get one? Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley have had long, great careers in one city, but would each need to have a few more really good seasons to reach the sure-Hall-of-Fame threshold that is required for such an honor. Ichiro is a Hall of Famer, but he’s currently playing in the wrong city and doesn’t have enough left in the tank to return to the right city as a regular. Joe Mauer and David Wright have been one-city stars for over a decade, but they are both on the decline and have no postseason success to speak of. A-rod? Ha!

After having three straight years with a retirement tour (Chipper Jones, Rivera and Jeter) we probably won’t be having another for a long time.  Given the depressing turn Jeter’s farewell has taken, it’s probably for the best.

Houston fired skipper Bo Porter last week and the latest speculation is that Biggio, who compiled 3060 hits during his 20-year career playing only for the Astros, is the leading candidate to replace him.

Biggio is currently the baseball coach at St. Thomas High School in Houston Texas. The 48-year old led the squad, which included two of his sons, to back-to-back Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools Class 5A state titles in 2010 and 2011. He also holds a position in the Astros front office as Special Assistant to the General Manager.

Although Biggio has no professional managerial experience, that is no longer the barrier it once was. Current managers Mike Matheny, Brad Ausmus and Robin Ventura had no managerial experience at all when they took over, and, like Biggio, the Rockies Walt Weiss had just managed high school baseball.

According to Mets manager Terry Collins, who also skippered Biggio for three years in Houston during the ninties, the versatile second baseman was always destined to be a big league manager. “I always told him, ‘one of these days you’ll be managing in the big leagues,’” Collins said in an interview with Newsday. “And I hope you’ll get one of these guys like you on your team.”

The question now becomes should Biggio even take the Astros job if offered. The conventional wisdom is that Houston’s meddlesome sabermetrics-obsessed (not that there’s anything wrong with that) front office more-or-less set up the old school Porter to fail.

Then there is the cautionary tale of long-time Tiger Alan Trammell. Like Biggio, he had a fantastic 20 year career with just one team. (And, like Biggio, he should be in the Hall of Fame but isn’t.) Detroit hired Trammell, who had no managerial experience, in 2003. Burdened with a decrepit roster, Trammell went 186-300 over his three years in Detroit and hasn’t had another managerial job since the Tigers fired him

Houston has been easily the worst team in baseball over the last five years. But they do feature some interesting young players, most notable Jose Altuve and George Springer, and should be better going forward.

However, there is no guarantee they’ll be that much better, and a manager without any professional managerial experience — and one who was also a perennial All-Star as a player — may not be the best choice to guide the least experienced team in the league through their extended growing pains.

Nevertheless, it would be difficult for Biggio to turn the job down if offered. And if he does take the job, expect the front office to give more rope to a local legend than they extended to Porter.

Martinez spoke out about the pair on Thursday after he was inducted into the Red Sox Hall of Fame along with Clemens, Nomar Garciaparra and broadcaster Joe Castiglione.

“I think Roger, with all due respect to everybody that votes, I’ll have to say Roger and Barry Bonds are two guys that I think had enough numbers before anything came out to actually earn a spot in the Hall of Fame,” Martinez told ESPN Boston. “I’m not quite sure 100 percent how close they will be before all the things came out, but in my heart, if you asked me before any of that, I would’ve said, ‘Yes, 100 percent’ without looking back.

“It wasn’t just the individual performances,” he continued. “It was how they dominated the time that they came up and stayed in the big leagues until those things happened. I believe they have a legit chance, and I think, with time, the voters will take into consideration what they did previously.”

Bonds and Clemens have both, of course, been tied to PEDs. This has made Hall voters reluctant to punch their ballots even though their statistics put the pair among the game’s all-time greats. Clemens and Bonds have both been eligible for the Hall since 2013, but neither has received more than 38 percent of the vote. It takes 85 percent for induction.

Bonds admitted to a grand jury that he “unknowingly” took banned substances during his career. Clemens was named in the Mitchell Report as a PED user. However, he denied the allegations under oath. This resulted in him being prosecuted for perjury, a trial which ended in a not guilty verdict on six counts.

Clemens, for one, says he’s not letting the exclusion from Cooperstown get to him.

“I don’t know if it’s that important,” Clemens said after the Red Sox Hall of Fame ceremony on Thursday. “It’s not going to change me as a person. I tell people I’ve got bits and pieces of us there now. We go visit those people and they’re great to us, but it’s not something I sit up and worry about every day.”

Other players who have posted sure-fire Hall of Fame numbers but have been kept out of the Hall because of steroid ties or allegations include Mike Piazza, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire and Rafael Palmeiro. Despite never being named in a PED report or having specific steroid rumors attached to him, Jeff Bagwell  also appears to have lost Hall of Fame support because of questions about the era he played in and his muscular build.

Do you agree with Martinez that at least Bonds and Clemens should be enshrined?

Over his 14 year career, Adam Dunn has a hit a lot of home runs (457) taken a lot of base on balls (1307) and struck out more times (2336) than anyone in Major League history besides Reggie Jackson and Jim Thome.

One thing he hadn’t ever done is pitch, which, of course isn’t all that surprise: most position players haven’t. But Dunn isn’t exactly like most position players. He has a big time high school quarterback, good enough to be recruited to play at University of Texas (he left after a redshirt year) and also quite the high school pitcher.

Dunn had apparently been lobbying his managers to get his big arm on the mound for years. With the White Sox down 15-0 to the Rangers Tuesday night, skipper Robin Ventura finally obligated, allowing the 6 foot 6 inch 290 pound man-mountain to pitch the top of the ninth.

(See Baseball’s Best Position Player Pitcher Performances here.)

Dunn threw in the low-eighties and featured enough sink on his pitches to impress Rangers All-Star third baseman Adrian Beltre.

Needless to say, the few fans that were left at US Cellular Field were thrilled by Dunn’s maiden trip to the mound. He pitched an inning giving up one run, two hits and a walk. Not so great, but as good as any of the White Sox who get paid to pitch did last night.

Dunn didn’t speak to reporters after the game, but his teammate, center fielder Adam Eaton, chimed in on his performance.

“I haven’t laughed on a baseball field like that in a long time, ever since I was probably kicking dandelions, in my early teens,” Eaton said. “He had good sink, that’s all I can say. He was 80 mph but he had really good sink.”

“If he hit somebody, we can’t charge the mound because he’s too big,” Beltre added, laughing too.

While Dunn’s pitching appearance Tuesday was more entertaining than good, there have been some pretty fine pitching performance over the years — including one by Tiger’s shortstop Danny Worth this season.

See what Wade Boggs, Chris Davis, Ted Williams and, of course, Babe Ruth were able to do when they took the mound in our post from earlier this season “Baseball’s Best Position Player Pitcher Performances.”

But for the purposes of this article, we’re going to focus on those who have made the Hall of Fame as players, including the stellar 2014 class of Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and Frank Thomas. (One could argue that Torre should have already made the Hall as a player, but that’s for another day.)

While Cooperstown’s latest trio of players were all no-doubt first-balloters, there have been some swings and misses among the 211 men who have been enshrined in Cooperstown for their play on the field. The website Hall of Stats does a good job of breaking down the discrepancy between those who were the greatest players in MLB history based on the advanced stats we have now, and those who have actually been elected to the Hall.

Below are five players who have no business in Cooperstown. They aren’t necessarily the most egregious cases, but they are among the most fascinating.

Jim Rice Inducted in 2009 on the 15th ballot
It took the maximum 15 ballots for Rice to get into the Hall without the help of the Veterans Committee. (Interestingly, the Hall of Fame shrunk the number of years a player can be eligible for regular induction from 15 to 10 in 2014.) If you were a baseball fan in the late seventies to the middle of the eighties you remember Rice, the 1978 AL MVP winner, as one of the most feared sluggers in baseball. However, Rice ceased to be much of a power threat by his 33rd birthday, and his counting stats — 382 home runs, 2452 hits, and 1451 RBIs — are really good, but none are Hall of Fame clinchers. Even during the eight or so years Rice was one of the top offensive players in the league, his poor defense in left  — the easiest position on the field to play — weighed down his total value. He also spent about 20 percent of his career playing DH. Rice’s career WAR of 47.4 ranks him 206 all time, so his induction isn’t that bad. But for our money, he wasn’t as good as his contemporary Don Mattingly, whose career also ended early, and who has never even sniffed the Hall in the voting.

Lloyd Waner 1967 Veterans Committee
Lloyd Waner accumulated 2549 hits during his career, good for 109th place all-time, but not nearly good enough for induction to Cooperstown on its own. And that’s when things get baffling. Besides that relatively unimpressive hit number, there is nothing in Waner’s profile that suggests he should even be mentioned in the same paragraph as the Hall of Fame. Waner had no power and rarely walked. Even though he had a .316 career batting average he was slightly below average for his career in .OPS. Speed? He didn’t have much. Defense? He played an above average center field, but nothing too special. His career WAR of 24.1 is lower than what Mike Trout has been able to put up in less than three years! What Waner did have going for him was his last name. His older brother Paul — “Big Poison” to his “Little Poison” — was a legit Hall of Famer. We’re thinking it was sentimentality that led the Veterans Committee voters to unite both Waner bros. in the Hall. It really couldn’t be anything else.

Catfish Hunter 1987 on the third ballot
Lloyd Waner had a good last name, and James “Catfish” Hunter had a cool nickname. Why even Bob Dylan wrote the song “Catfish” about the right-hander. Having a snappy moniker must have helped Hunter make the Hall because his stats certainly don’t warrant it. Sure he won at least 21 games between 1971 and 1975, pitching for dominate teams in Oakland and New York. But if you take away that stretch he was actually a below average pitcher, in terms of ERA. In fact, even including that run, his career ERA+ is 104, meaning he was only four percent better than the average pitcher. Hunter supporters would point out his postseason success — five World Series rings and nine postseason wins. However, his post-season ERA of 3.26 is exactly the same of his average-for-the-era regular season ERA. Hunter was simply a really good player who had a great nickname and played on even greater teams. We don’t necessarily support Jack Morris for the Hall. But we’d take him over Hunter, who somehow got in on the third ballot.

Bill Mazeroski 2001 Veterans Committee 
Bill Mazeroski is the only player to ever hit a walk-off home run in a World Series Game 7. It was a Hall of Fame moment if there ever was one. Mazeroski, however, has no business being in the Hall of Fame as a player. Not that he was a bad player — the second baseman was an eight-time Gold Glove winner and today’s advanced metrics rate him as an excellent fielder. However, outside of the 1960 World Series, he just wasn’t much of a hitter, with his 84 OPS+ indicating that he was 16 percent worse than average at the plate over his career. He also didn’t stick around long enough to put up any counting stats of note.  It’s a travesty that Mazeroski is the Hall when far-superior second baseman Lou Whitaker got so few votes during his first-year eligible that he was removed from the ballot.

Lou Brock 1985 first ballot
Despite Whitaker’s exclusion from Cooperstown, there is one Lou in the Hall. And we’re not going to be too tough on the voters for inducting Lou Brock. The speedster’s 3023 hits pass the magic 3000 mark, and he retired the all-time leader in stolen bases. He also had great postseason stats and two World Series rings. But other than that, Brock was a whole bunch of “meh.” Sure he stole a lot of bases, but he also got caught a lot.  His career stolen base percentage of 75 is below the 80 percent which is now acknowledged as making a steal attempt worthwhile. He was a really bad left-fielder, despite his speed.  Although he had some nice pop for a leadoff type he wasn’t a great on-base guy with a career OPS only nine percent above average. His career WAR of 45.2 is just 236 best all-time. There is no way Brock should be in the Hall (and a first balloter!) when 69.1 career WAR Tim Raines — who stole almost as many bases as Brock and did so much more efficiently — remains on the outside looking in.

Kershaw’s was the longest scoreless inning streak since Brandon Webb fired off 42 straight in 2007. Remember Webb? He won a Cy Young for the Diamondbacks in 2006 and then followed it up with two runners up before arm trouble ended his career at age 30.

Webb’s streak was tied for the 13th longest in big league history, making Kershaw’s run of excellence the 15th best. The top ten longest scoreless innings streaks of all-time are below.

10. R.A. Dickey 44.2 New York Mets 2012
2012 was the year of Dickey, with the 37-year old knuckleballer snagging the NL Cy Young. His scoreless streak lasted for much of June and included three shutouts. After giving up five runs in the game that ended the streak, Dickey pitched eight shutout innings in his next start.

7. Sal Maglie 45 New York Giants 1950
A late bloomer who also banned from baseball for five years for jumping to the Mexican league, Maglie’s first full season came in 1950, when he was already 33. He made up for lost time by firing off a 45 inning scoreless streak which started in a complete game in which he gave up seven runs early and included three relief pitching appearances between his regular starts.

7. Doc White 45 Chicago White Sox 1904
Deadball era pitcher Doc White’s 1.78 ERA was only third best in the American League in 1904. His 45 inning scoreless streak during the season was the best, however he had to share the honor with a pitcher who had a much more famous name.

7. Cy Young 45 Boston Americans 1904
That would be Cy Young, the pitcher whom all other hurlers are compared to. The 511 game winning ace also posted 45 straight zeros in 1904, stealing White’s thunder.

6. Carl Hubbell 45.1 New York Giants 1933
Hall of Famer Carl Hubbell did Young and White ⅓ an inning better in 1933. The screwballing lefty had three shutouts during his streak and, like Maglie, also made relief appearances between his regular starts. Baseball was different back then.

5. Bob Gibson 47 St. Louis Cardinals 1968
One could make the case that Bob Gibson 1968 season was the best ever for a pitcher. In addition to his 1.12 ERA and league leading 268 Ks, Gibson pitched five straight shutouts during his June scoreless streak. He had 13 shutouts overall in that year.

4. Jack Coombs 53 Philadelphia A’s 1910
Big jump from Gibson to Coombs, who completely dominated all of 1910 with his 1.30 ERA, 31 wins and 224 Ks. He didn’t give up a home run the entire season and led the A’s to a World Series win with three victories in the Fall Classic.

3. Walter Johnson 55.2 Washington Senators 1913
Coombs scoreless streak record only lasted three years and it should have been no surprise that Walter Johnson was the one to break it. The Big Train had an all-time record 110 career shutouts and had a 38-26 record 1-0 games. Both his wins and lose totals in such games are big league records.

2. Don Drysdale 58 Los Angeles Dodgers 1968
1968 was the year of the pitcher. So much that the baseball lowered the mound for 1969. Drysdale’s contribution to the historic season was his 58 inning scoreless streak, which included six straight shutouts. 1968 was also Drysdale’s swan song; arm troubled ended his Hall of Fame career in 1969 at age 32.

1. Orel Hershiser 59 Los Angeles Dodgers 1988
Twenty years later, another Dodger broke Drysdale’s legendary record. Hershiser’s streak included five shutouts and then a ten scoreless innings’ no-decision during his last start of the season. Although he was scored upon in the postseason, he pitched (and hit) well enough to be the 1988 World Series MVP.

The Molins and the Uptons still have a long way to go before they match the production of our all-time best brother combos. We’re measuring by WAR, and to qualify each brother has to contribute at least ten WAR. Meaning combos with a marginal freeloading brother, like Tony Gwynn and Chris Gwynn or Mike Maddux and Greg Maddux, don’t qualify.

We’re also only counting the best two brothers. Although you will see a surprising number of brother sets which include three or more.

Honorable mention Dizzy and Daffy Dean 53 Combined WAR
Jay “Dizzy” Dean and Paul “Daffy” Dean won a combined 49 games for the St. Louis Cardinal in 1934. Not only is that a record for brother teammates, but it is doubtful two teammates of any relations will ever again achieve that combined mark. The Deans accounted for 47 wins in 1935, but Daffy would blow out his arm the next year, effectively ending his career. Arm problems would also pretty much end Dizzy’s career by age 30, but he still was able to make the Hall of Fame. We’re giving them the Dean’s the honorable mention spot for what could have been.

10. Felipe and Matty Alou WAR 65.5
Felipe and Matty Alou, along with third brother Jesus, all began their careers with San Francisco in late fifites. Felipe was a good all-around hitter with some pop — he finished up with 2101 hits and 206 home runs and three All-Star appearances. Matty was a great contact hitter, topping .330 four times and winning a batting title. (Jesus managed 1216 hits for his career, but was more of a fourth outfielder type.) Felipe also makes our list of best father-son combos with his boy Moises.

9. Clete and Ken Boyer WAR 80.5
Ken Boyer was a perennial All-Star and the 1963 MVP for the St. Louis Cardinal. His brother Clete was also a third baseman, manning the hot corner for the Yankees and the Braves during the sixties. Clete couldn’t hit like his brother could, but was one of the best fielding third sackers of all-time. Their older brother Cloyd had a five year career as a fairly mediocre pitcher.

8. Sandy and Roberto Alomar WAR 83.7
The sons of Big Leaguer Sandy Alomar Sr, Sandy Jr. and Roberto had 18 combined All-Star appearances. Twelve belonged to the second baseman Roberto, who is a Hall of Famer and one of the all-time greats at his position. Frankly, Sandy’s association with his father and younger brother (whom he played with in both San Diego and Cleveland) made him a bit overrated, but he was a decent enough player for 20 years.

7. Ed and Jim Delahanty WAR 88.6
Hall of Famer Ed Delahanty had a .346 career batting average and was arguably baseball’s best player in the 1890s. Then he died in 1903 under mysterious circumstances; he was kicked off the team train for being drunk and disorderly and then either fell or was pushed into Niagara Falls. Ed actually had four Major League brothers. Jim, 12 years his junior, was the best of the bunch, finishing his 13-year career with 1159 hits and 151 steals.

6. George and Ken Brett WAR 100.7
George Brett was one of the best third baseman to ever play, winning batting titles in three different decades, making 13 All-Star teams and skating into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot. Ken was a journeyman pitcher who had a few pretty good seasons in the mid-seventies, including an All-Star appearances. Ken could hit a little too, finishing up with a .262 batting average and ten home runs.

5. Paul and Lloyd Waner WAR 96.9
They called Paul Waner “Big Poison” and his his younger brother Lloyd “Little Poison.” Lloyd actually had his big brother by an inch (5’9 to 5’8) but Paul definitely swung the bigger bat, finishing his career with a Hall of Fame clinching 3152 hits and a .333 average. Lloyd’s 2469 hits and .316 average were also enough to get him into to Cooperstown, making the Waners the only brother combination to be enshrined. (Although Lloyd, who is only contributing 24.1 of their overall WAR, seems like he got in to the Hall on the family name.)

4. Joe and Dom DiMaggio WAR 110.1
Joe DiMaggio was one of the finest players of all-time, a three -ime MVP and an All-Star in each of his 13 seasons. Although he made seven All-Star teams, Dom was not only overshadowed by his brother but by Ted Williams, who played next to him in Boston’s outfield. A third brother, the power hitting Vince, was also a decent player, accumulating 17.1 WAR over his career. If Joe and Dom hadn’t lost six prime years to World War 2 they’d easily top this list

3. Pedro and Ramon Martinez WAR 112.7
Soon-to-be first ballot Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez was as dominant a pitcher as the game has ever seen. His older brother Ramon also started his career like he was a future Hall of Fame; winning 20 games with a 2.92 ERA as a 22-year old in 1990. However, arm trouble would derail Ramon’s career about when Pedro’s was starting to heat up.

2. Phil and Joe Niekro WAR 126
There are 539 career wins between the knuckleballing Niekros, 318 for the Hall of Famer Phil and 221 for Joe. Like many practitioners of the flutter pitch they both kept getting better with age. Joe would hit his his stride in his mid-thirties and Phil would win an amazing 121 games after his 40th birthday.

1. Gaylord and Jim Perry WAR 133.4
The Perrys 529 combined wins are just short of the Niekros total. However, they beat them in Cy Youngs three to nothing, with Gaylord winning the award in 1972 and 1978 and Jim taking it in 1970. Perry, who has 314 wins, is in the Hall of Fame. Older brother Jim will likely spend eternity in the Hall of Very Good.

Derek Jeter turned 40 today. The Yankee legend and Hall of Famer has been struggling this year, suggesting his decision to retire at the season’s end was a prudent one.

However, there have been a handful of big league stars who continued to produce into their fifth decade. Baseball’s 15 best 40-and-over performers are below.

Carlton Fisk
Fisk slugged 72 home runs and posted an OPS+ of 119 (meaning he was 19 percent better than the average hitter) in his five seasons after his 40th birthday. Even more amazingly the Hall of Fame catcher squatted behind the plate for most of those 537 games. His best post-40 year came at 42, when he hit .285 with 18 homers and came in 15th in th AL MVP race

Rickey Henderson
Henderson played to age 44, and saw his batting average drop to .228 during his last four years. (Although he still managed to get on base at a decent clip.) But the all-time leader in runs and stolen bases was still excellent in his age 40 year, hitting .315 with 12 homers and 37 SB.

Ted Williams
In 1960, the greatest hitter who ever lived had the greatest hitting year for a man over 40. The 41-year old posted an .OPS 1096, which would have led the league by almost 150 points if he had had enough plate appearances to qualify. Despite having just 310 at bats, Teddy Ballgame slugged 28 homers. It would be his last year, but we suspect if there had been a DH back then Williams would have been leading the league in offensive categories well into his forties.

Roger Clemens
Yeah, it may have been chemically-aided, but Clemens won 50 games after his 40th birthday. The Rocket snagged his record seventh Cy Young in 2004 as a 41-year old. He was probably even better then next year, leading the National League with paltry 1.87 ERA. The next year the 43-year old had 2.30 ERA in 19 starts and would have easily led the league if he had pitched enough innings to qualify.

Randy Johnson
The Big Unit had 72 wins after his 40th birthday. While he wasn’t as effective as Clemens throughout most of those years, he was still firing as 40-year old, posting a 2.60 ERA and leading the National League with 290 Ks.

Nolan Ryan
Not only did Ryan win 71 games after his 40th birthday, but his 3.33 ERA over that time period was just a tick above his career mark of 3.18. The old man managed 19 post-40 complete games, led the league in strikeouts four times, and threw two of his record seven no-hitters in his fifth decade. Then there was the time when, at 46, he beat up Robin Ventura after the young whippersnapper had the audacity to charge the mound.

Warren Spahn
Spahn won 75 of his lefty record 363 games after his 40th birthday. Twice in his fifth decade he topped 20 wins and four times he led the league in complete games.

Cy Young
It’s become clear that there is a certain type of elite pitcher who can continue to throw at a high level well into his 40s. This was first made apparent by Cy Young, the pitcher whom all others are still compared to. After posting a 1.99 ERA as a 40-year old, Young pitched to a 1.26 clip, the lowest ERA of his career and 93 percent better than the average pitcher that year. The next two years the graying legend had ERAs of 2.26 and 2.53.

Paul Molitor
Molitor lost a good deal of time early in his career to injuries. So to accumulate his Hall of Fame-clinching hit total of 3319 the offensive machine had to really turn it on in his late 30s and early 40s. He hit .341 in 1996, the season he turned the big 4-0, and led the league with 225 hits. He followed that up with a .305 season and 164 more hits.

Willie Mays
41-year old Willie Mays struggling to play center field for the New York Mets has long been used as a cautionary tale for players who hang on too long. But you really can’t blame the Say Hey Kid for wanting to play more. He was quite good as a 40-year old, leading the league in on-base percentage and swiping 23 bases (along with 18 homers) for his original team the Giants.

Julio Franco
An ageless freak who was getting regular at-bats at 48, Franco was one of the better hitters in the league at 45. That year he hit .309 with a .818 OPS in 363 plate appearances.

Phil Niekro
Knuckleballers are a different breed, obviously, when it comes to the aging curve. Hall of Famer Phil Niekro took full advantage of this, winning a record 121 games after his 40th birthday. Post-40 highlights include 11 shutouts, 2 All-Star appearances and two years with Cy Young votes.

Ty Cobb
While the .357 average Cobb posted as a 40-year old was a bit off his .366 career mark, it was 34 percent better than the average player that year. The Georgia Peach also scored 102 runs and swiped 22 bags. The next year he “only” hit .323, prompting his retirement.

Mariano Rivera
Rivera kept it simple with one pitch, and this probably aided the closer as he aged. The all-time save leader’s ERA after 40 was 1.95, even lower than his amazing 2.11 career mark. Most impressively he came back at 43, after missing almost an entire year, to post a 2.11 ERA with 44 saves in his final season.

Barry Bonds
Like Clemens, he probably didn’t do in naturally, but big-headed Bonds posted an amazing .480 OPS as a 42-year old, leading the league in walks and hitting 28 home runs. It was an improvement from his still-league leading .454 .OPS the year before.

Gywnn ended up grounding out and is hitting .153. His career average is .239, almost 100 points below his dad’s amazing career mark of .338.

There have been other MLB father-son combos in which the apple has been a little closer to the tree on-the-field talent-wise. Here are the ten best father-son tandems of all-time.

10. Sandy Alomar Sr. and Roberto Alomar
We are only including tandems in which both father and son both have had significant MLB careers. Sandy Alomar Sr. wasn’t much of a hitter, but he did play 15 years and made an All-Star team. Roberto Alomar, the better of Sandy’s two Major League sons, also played second base but could really hit. He made 12 All-Star teams and the Hall of Fame

9. Ray Boone and Bob Boone
Ray Boone was a pretty nifty player for the Tigers and Indians during the fifties, making two All-Star teams and hitting the 20 home runs mark five times as a shortstop and third baseman. Bob Boone, who split his career between the Phillies and Angels, was a four-time All-Star and is considered one of the best defensive catchers of all-time. We’ll be hearing again from Bob again soon.

8. Jose Cruz and Jose Cruz Jr.
Jose Cruz banged out 2251 hits, mostly for the Astros, and played a terrific outfield. His son and namesake had a nice run for the Blue Jays around the turn of the century, which included finishing second for Rookie of the Year and a 30/30 season. Unlike his dad, who made an All-Star team at age 37, Junior declined quickly once he hit 30, but still finished with 204 career homers.

7. Bob Boone and Bret Boone
Bob Boone is back, this time with his son Brett. Brett, a second baseman, was a three time All-Star and three-time Gold Glove winner. In his best year of 2001 he hit .331 with 37 homers and 141 RBIs and led to the Mariners to a record 116 wins. Brett’s brother and Bob’s son Aaron also had a decent 12-year career.

6. Gus Bell and Buddy Bell
Gus Bell, a power hitting center fielder, made four All-Star teams for the Reds during the fifties. His son, a third baseman, trumped him with five All-Star appearances and four Gold Gloves over an 8-year career. Buddy’s son, David, played 12 years in the league and another son, Mike, got into a handful of Big League games.

5. Cecil Fielder and Prince Fielder
After famously spending a year in Japan, Cecil came back stateside and led the American League in home runs and RBIs in 1990 and 1991. Prince Fielder, who has a rocky relationship with his dad, slugged 288 home runs before his 30th birthday. Now Rangers fans are hoping Prince doesn’t experience the same rapid decline his similarly rotund father did once he got into his fourth decade.

4. Mel Stottlemyre and Todd Stottlemyre
There aren’t a lot of father-and-son pitching tandems out there and the Stottlemyre’s are easily the best. Sinkerballer Mel was one of the top pitchers of his generation, although a shoulder injury ended his career in 1974 at the age of 32. Todd was a solid starter for 14 years, finishing his career with 138 wins and 1587 Ks and a couple World Series titles with the Blue Jays.

3. Felipe Alou and Moises Alou
Along with his brothers Jesus and Matty, Felipe Alou was among the first Dominican players to suit up in the big leagues. He was three-time All-Star and he finished his career with 2101 hits and 206 homers. His son Moises didn’t really hit his stride until his late twenties but still managed to top his dad with 5 All-Star appearances, 2134 hits and 332 dingers.

2. Ken Griffey and Ken Griffey Jr.
The Griffey’s were the first father son tandem to ever play for the same team when they both made the roster of the Mariners in 1990. Dad was a three-time All-Star and a valuable member of the Big Red Machine. Junior was considered the best player of his generation for a time, and the future Hall of Famer finished his career with 630 homers, 2781 hits and 13 All-Star appearances.

1. Bobby Bonds and Barry Bonds
We all know how great and controversial Barry Bonds is, with his 762 home runs and PED ties. His father Bobby was almost great, going 30-30 five times (a record only matched by his son) and finishing his 14-year career with 332 homers and 461 steals. Bobby was also pretty controversial, thanks to a notoriously disagreeable personality that he seems to have passed on to his son.