On the other hand, it’s a damn shame that Martina Navratilova retired early from her recent comeback on the doubles court, winding up her career by winning the 2006 US Open Mixed Doubles Title the month before her 50th birthday.
Rocky Balboa 
Tom Seaver was arguably not a dominant pitcher from 1981 on. Still he had a couple of good years with the White Sox, including going 16-11 in 1984 with a 3.17 ERA, which is not bad for a 40-year-old.
Willie Mays, Steve Carlton and Carlton Fisk come to mind first as baseball players who hung around way too long.
Not to mention Jose Canseco, who’s retired and still hanging around too long.
National Lampoon once had a cover with the title “Pete Rose Hustles After Ty Cobb’s Record” with Rose hobbling down the first base line with a walker.
Well, you can’t blame Vince, he probably would have had a few more years in him if he had not died.
Then why trade or cut him.? He is way overpaid and compared to what he is expected to do 28 hrs is a disappointment. What do you expect from him now. ? Plus his presence is a distraction. His 28 hrs came at a great price not only financially but to truth freedom and the American way.
Only White Sox fans would know or care about this, but the last season of Harold Baines, in which he hit .131 at age 42, was horribly painful to watch.
It was sad watching both Aikman and Young trying to be nominated as poster-children for the American Concussion Society during their last seasons.
Jerry Rice came to mind.
Bonds is still an awesome hitter, but a case could be made for him, considering the 40/40 player he once was.
As for Rickey, he obviously is in it for the love of the game and not for fame or money, so I say more power to him.
Here’s a question for you- if there were a 40 year old journeyman outfielder or backup catcher or utility infielder who was appearing in 25-30 games a year and batting .240, would you tell him to quit? Would you tell him he’s embarrassing himself and should retire?
What about a 39 year old journeyman quarterback who’s hanging on as a scrub somewhere in the NFL. Would you tell him “Retire now, you’re making a fool of yourself”?
I suspect not. I suspect you’d say “More power to him.”
Well, why is a former superstar different? If a former superstar is still of SOME value to SOME team, why shouldn’t he keep playing as long as he can?
Barry Bonds can definitely help SOME team next year as a DH (he still has a superb on base percentage and provides power). Assume for a minute that he loves baseball and is willing to take a hefty pay cut to keep on playing. Why shouldn’t he keep playing as long as someone is willing to pay him?
Bill Walton was once the most dominant center in the NBA. Injuries reduced his effectiveness to the point where he was, at best, a sixth man for the Celtics. Well, was he wrong to play for the Celtics? He made good money and contributed to championship teams. As long as the Celtics felt he could contribute SOMETHING, what does it matter that he was nowhere as good as he’d once been?
Jesus Christ. The rules of boxing must have been very different then. As soon as Willard had both knees off the mat, even if he was hanging from the ropes and couldn’t raise an arm to defend himself, Dempsey started in with the head shots. The ref made no attempt to allow Willard to get upright, or check if he was a TKO. I’m guessing that match would never have been allowed to reach that point if it were held today.
Got to disagree about Montana. As a 49er fan, seeing him in a Chiefs uniform didn’t look right, but he was selected to the pro bowl in and went all the way to the AFC Championship Game in 1993.
As others have said, boxing seems to have the worst stories of athletes staying around long after they should have retired.
Two fighters that come to mind are Jerry Quarry and his brother Mike Quarry
They both fought maybe a little too long (especially Jerry) and they both died in their mid-50’s and both had serious cases of pugilistic dementia.
I remember reading Jerry Quarry’s obituary. The medical ailments he suffered from were so extensive, it’s as if his whole body had shut down.
Boxing is a nasty sport.
Oh my God, I forgot about Fisk. He kept playing in 1993, when he couldn’t hit and couldn’t catch (he was incapable of throwing the ball to second base), just so that he could set the record for games caught. And he refused to admit that his talent had diminished in the slightest, so that all he did was bitch that the White Sox didn’t appreciate him and didn’t play him enough. Which got him great sympathy from the national press because he was a one-time Red Sox hero and thus infallible. God, he was an asshole.
Because he is a bad investment going forward. At his age, his collapse could come at any moment. Just because he hit well in 2007 doesn’t mean he will again in 2008; a ballplayer past 40 is one millisecond of reaction time away from the end of his career.
But to this point, he’s not at all embarassed himself. The OP asked about the worst examples of players playing beyond their abilities; Bonds, up until now, has remained an outstanding ballplayer, so he doesn’t count yet. If he goes out the next couple of years and bats .170, then he’ll be a candidate.
And you may not like him but Giants fans LOVE him, and that’s all that mattered to the Giants. The hatred for Bonds outside of SF just does not exist there. They worship the guy, and pack the stadium to see him hit; God knows there weren’t any other reasons to watch the Giants play last year. He brought in zillions of dollars in revenue as a result of the home run chase. He was worth every penny to them in 2007, but now that the chase is over, and he’s a year older, he’s not. They were smart to keep him through 2007 and smart to let him go now.
Even sadder was that he tried to make the Denver Broncos the following year and “retired” when it was clear that he wasn’t going to make the team.
I don’t know how shameless it was – it was a very popular choice. And after several years in the cellar, the Reds under Rose finished in second place three or four times. From the perspective of a Cincinnati fan in that era, it was a good time … er … up until the whole gambling thing. But hey, after the early 1980s, there’s a lot a Cincinnati fan would put up with.
Didn’t Mario Soto and Tom Seaver lead the Reds to the best record in the M.L.B. in the strike-shortened 1981 season?
Even if he was past his prime, Seaver was still as solid as a member of the starting rotation that Cincinnati had at the time. Which might be saying more about how dismal the Reds’ pitching staff was overall … but still …
Now this I don’t get. How was Largent remotely affected by all this? Because Rice was wearing his number? Sounds like drama-queening to me.
This long suffering Chiefs fan thanks you!!
Also, Montana did have some moves left, he was not really “hanging on” like many of the others. The 49er’s basically kicked him to the curb to make way for Steve Young…one of the most exciting regular season Chiefs games I remember was when the Chiefs shellacked Young and the 49ers at Arrowhead the first year Joe was there.
Gordie Howe. One game in 1997 for the Vipers. Pathetic, stupid, lame publicity stunt to play at a professional level in six decades.
One of the toughest and best to play the game ever had to ruin a bit of his reputation for a ridiculous reason.
Statistically, I have seen it argued (elsewhere on the Dope) that he was the single worst hitter in the league. Or perhaps the worst player, taking defense into account. So his insistence on playing himself was pretty shameless by that measurement.