Julio Franco once said he wanted to play baseball until he was 50, but his retirement today leaves him just three months shy. He played professionally in some capacity for for 28 seasons in four different countries and loved baseball so much that in the face of an uncertain opening to the 1995 MLB season he opted to head to Japan just to keep playing.

In 1994 on the South Side of Chicago, Franco assembled his finest of many fine offensive seasons, posting a .319/.406/.510 line with 20 home runs and 98 RBI. He finished 8th in AL MVP voting in the World Series year that should have been but his time on the South Side was simply not meant to last.

His retirement is almost a bit sad; as long as Julio Franco still played, then the baseball of this writer’s youth was sitll somehow connected to the baseball of today. But perhaps there is a larger lesson in all of this. If Julio Franco could play pro ball until he’s 49 through a simple combination of love and dedication, could it be that anything really is possible? No small question, and no small idea.

Happy trails, Julio. Your tireless pursuit of your one true passion was an inspiration to a lot of us out there. May the next 28 years be just as rewarding.