Graying, Still Playing

A perfect game in baseball is a rare gem, worth celebrating if the pitcher is 20 or 30. When he’s 40, the age of Arizona Diamondback pitcher Randy Johnson, it’s even more remarkable. Yes, Johnson is a professional athlete; yes, he gets probably more than $16 million this year for doing his job. But he still deserves acclaim for being the oldest to pitch a perfect game and for taking care of himself well enough to do so.

Baby boomers are changing the way the U.S. grows old -- just look around on weekends to see who’s riding racing bicycles, kicking the soccer ball, getting the hard first serve in on the tennis court. Johnson and other pro athletes in their 40s should be an inspiration to the men and women who get off the couch and keep themselves in shape.

Los Angeles Laker forward Karl Malone scored 30 points in a playoff game against the Houston Rockets three weeks ago. He’s 40. Houston Astro right-hander Roger Clemens was the first major league pitcher to win seven games this season and, like Johnson, is guaranteed to be elected to the Hall of Fame the first time he is eligible. He’s 41. Defenseman Chris Chelios helped the Detroit Red Wings clinch regular-season first place in the National Hockey League this year before a recent injury. He’s 42.

Aging professional athletes know they have to adapt, icing aching bodies after games, lifting weights and exercising rigorously in the off-season. Equally impressive is the mental conditioning that lets them gear up to try their best every time they play, rather than taking it easy and collecting the guaranteed paycheck.

Johnson, known for the speed of his fastball, joked after he beat the Braves in Atlanta on Tuesday night that his velocity (98 mph on the final pitch) “wasn’t bad for being 40 years old.”

In the Diamondback star we hear faint echoes of Satchel Paige, who was forced to play in baseball’s Negro Leagues until Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947. Paige finally got to the major leagues after he turned 40, and he threw his last big-league pitch at age 59.

Said Paige: “Age is a question of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.”