Julio Franco

At the time of his final game, he was the last MLB player born in the 1950s.

Franco was born in Hato Mayor in the Dominican Republic.

As a child, he lived in Consuelo, San Pedro de Macorís, a poor municipality 50 miles east of Santo Domingo.

He attended Divine Providence School in Consuelo.

Julio César Franco Robles (born August 23, 1958) is a Dominican former professional baseball player and coach, who is a hitting coach for the farm team of the Lotte Giants of the KBO League.

Signed by the Philadelphia Phillies organization on April 23, 1978, as an amateur free agent, Franco reported to the Rookie-level Butte Copper Kings.

In each of five minor league seasons, he hit for a batting average of at least .300.

Because of his batting style, Franco twice led the American League in grounding into double plays and was in the top-ten in that category seven times in the 1980s.

He is seventh on the all-time list in ground-ball double plays and has just over 300.

He spent most of his playing career in Major League Baseball (MLB), entering the major leagues in 1982 and last appearing in 2007, at which time he was the oldest active big league player.

During that stretch, Franco also spent two seasons playing in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) and one season playing in the KBO.

While Franco was an All-Star and posted above-average hitting statistics throughout his career, he is best known for being the oldest regular position player in MLB history.

Franco was promoted through the Philadelphia minor league system each year, reaching the Class AAA Oklahoma City 89ers in 1982 and batting .300 and hitting 21 home runs in 120 games.

Franco debuted in the major leagues in 1982, playing 16 games with the Phillies.

He was one of five Phillies along with Manny Trillo, George Vukovich, Jerry Willard and Jay Baller who were traded to the Cleveland Indians for Von Hayes at the Winter Meetings on December 9, 1982.

He also averaged over 20 stolen bases per season from 1983 through 1991.

Indians manager Pat Corrales said that Franco left due to a personal problem, but he said that Franco had left without permission and that he had already been given a warning after missing a game in 1985.

In June 1986, Franco received a two-game suspension from the Indians after he arrived at the ballpark but then left before the game started.

Franco hit over .300 in every season from 1986 to 1989.

When he switched from shortstop to second base in 1988, he won four straight Silver Slugger Awards.

Franco batted with a long whip-like swing with the heaviest bat allowed.

In December 1988, during baseball's Winter Meetings, Franco was traded from Cleveland to the Texas Rangers, who were in need of an everyday second baseman.

The Rangers gave up first baseman Pete O'Brien, and two prospects, Oddibe McDowell and Jerry Browne.

The Rangers had acquired first baseman Rafael Palmeiro the day before, and The New York Times said that the Rangers' lineup might allow Franco to bat fifth, a batting order slot that could increase his number of runs batted in (RBI).

With Texas, Franco was named to all three of his All-Star teams: in 1989, 1990 and 1991, and he won the Major League Baseball All-Star Game MVP Award in 1990.

In the 1990 All-Star game, Franco came to bat in the 7th inning against Rob Dibble of the Cincinnati Reds.

Franco drove a 101 mph fastball to the right-center field fence for a double, scoring the only runs of the game.

In 1991, Franco had his only 200-hit season and won the American League batting title.

His .341 average was nine points higher than that of future Baseball Hall of Fame member Wade Boggs.

A 1992 knee injury limited him to 33 games that season and fundamentally ended Franco's time as a middle infielder, playing only 35 more games at 2B the remainder of his career.

Franco later said that the injury helped him to realize the importance of taking care of his physical condition.

He spent 1993 as a designated hitter before opting to become a free agent and signing with the Chicago White Sox.

In 1994, as a member of the Chicago White Sox, Franco had already hit 20 home runs for the only time in his career and was on pace to reach 100 runs batted in for the only time in his career when the remainder of the season was canceled by the 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike.

Franco went on to win his fifth Silver Slugger Award and first as a Designated hitter.

On December 28, 1994, Franco signed to play in Japan with the Chiba Lotte Marines in the Pacific League.

Chiba Lotte had the best season in its history in 1995, and Franco won the Japanese equivalent of the Gold Glove Award as a first baseman.

After the 1995 season in Japan, Franco signed with the Cleveland Indians, where he was a fan favorite.

Franco was the all-time hits leader among Dominican-born players until surpassed in 2011 by Vladimir Guerrero.

He made his MLB debut as a shortstop for the Philadelphia Phillies.

During his long career, Franco saw significant time as a shortstop, second baseman, first baseman, and designated hitter.