# Athletes who let their careers drag out wayyyyy too long **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [October 22, 2012, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/athletes-who-let-their-careers-drag-out-wayyyyy-too-long/638562 "2012-10-22T20:39:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2012, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/athletes-who-let-their-careers-drag-out-wayyyyy-too-long/638562/41 "2012-11-03T09:39:22Z")
> [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](#): > > Randy Johnson is another guy who stuck around much longer than he probably should have in pursuit of his 300th win. But dude made it. I remember hearing in 2007 that Tom Glavine would be the last 300 game winner for a generation, but then Johnson made it two years later. Good for him. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2012, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/athletes-who-let-their-careers-drag-out-wayyyyy-too-long/638562/42 "2012-11-03T12:45:21Z")
Just regarding Mike Tyson, he is on a speaking tour over here. I can’t imagine anyone I’d less like to hear- he must be doing it tough to undertake that sort of job. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_E.Nixon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8491ac/32.png) [@Richard\_E.Nixon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_E.Nixon)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/athletes-who-let-their-careers-drag-out-wayyyyy-too-long/638562/43 "2012-11-05T07:16:01Z")
Babe Ruth with the Braves. Willie McCovey Ken Stabler Wendel Tyler Charles Haley ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_jeffrey_lebowski/32/215_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Jeffrey_Lebowski)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/athletes-who-let-their-careers-drag-out-wayyyyy-too-long/638562/44 "2012-11-05T08:21:59Z")
> [@Cicero](#): > > Just regarding Mike Tyson, he is on a speaking tour over here. I can’t imagine anyone I’d less like to hear- he must be doing it tough to undertake that sort of job. I’d love to hear him tell stories about his life. Like him or not, the man has had a pretty extraordinary existence - from the streets of Brooklyn to the Catskill Mountains, from the grip of poverty and crime to the lap of luxury and then back to poverty; he had it all and lost it, came back and lost even more, lost any respectability that remained, and still came back. He was borne out of a desperate youth and a violent career - he has most certainly committed acts that are universally regarded as criminal, and repulsive. I’d bet that he speaks honestly about some of these things, some which he regrets, and others, maybe not. I imagine that it’s an entertaining show. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/athletes-who-let-their-careers-drag-out-wayyyyy-too-long/638562/45 "2012-11-05T18:31:24Z")
An important thing to remember is, stellar athletes rarely hang on when they have NO ability left. Typically, a 38 year old former supserstar doesn’t stink out the joint game in and game out. Rather, he starts to have as many awful moments as great moments, as many horrible games as magnificent games. At the time of his retirement, Dan Marino was still quite capable of throwing for 350 yards and 4 touchdown passes… it’s just that he was equally capable of going 5 of 18 for 23 yards, with 4 picks. A Willie Mays doesn’t just start whiffing every time he comes up to bat. He STILL has an occasional game where he goes 3 for 5 with a homer. He still has days where he feels exactly like his old self. And it’s those days that keep him coming back, even though there are now al ot MORE games where he’s going 0 for 4. If a star athlete KNEW for sure that “I don’t have it any more, and I’ll NEVER have it again,” he’d probably retire. But our bodies don’t give us clear, unmistakeable messages like that. Our bodies give us mixed signals as we get older. An over-the-hill athlete has JUST enough good days to convince him that, “I can still do it.” And he’s not always wrong. Often, he CAN still do it. He just can’t do it every night (or every week, as the case may be). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/athletes-who-let-their-careers-drag-out-wayyyyy-too-long/638562.md?page=2)