The 3 most impressive numbers of Julio Franco’s career

Who’s seen more in the modern era of the game than Julio Franco? A career spanning from 1982 to 2007, he’s been in the majors with Pete Rose, Gaylord Perry, Felix Hernandez and Justin Upton.  He’s seen it all … but did he also do it all? It’s easily forgotten that Julio Franco was good. Really good.

A batting title, three-time All-Star and a five-time Silver Slugger, Franco was much more than a long-tenured journeyman.

Let’s take a look at the shortlist of numbers that made Julio Franco truly special.

2,586 Career Hits

Before the critics say, “Of course he had that many hits. He played forever,” first off, 2,500 hits is 2,500 hits. It doesn’t matter how you got that many, there are Hall of Famers with less. Secondly, from Franco’s first full season in 1983 with Cleveland to his batting title-winning year in 1991 with Texas, Franco amassed 1,597 hits in that eight-year span, also producing more hits than games played in every one of those seasons.

Franco’s career-altering knee injury in 1992 changed his fielding career forever and, for most 33-year-olds, that would derail most players careers for good. Franco, however, came back in 1993 as if nothing changed. Franco would produce another 154 hits in 144 games that year with 31 doubles.

Franco wasn’t done either. What did he do when he moved from Texas to the south side of Chicago? Just finish 8th in MVP voting, at 35 years old. Dropping another 138 hits in 112 games, 20 of them were homers (career high) and another career high with a .916 OPS that year.

Franco’s return to Cleveland the following year in 1996 would be the same as ever. Another 139 hits over 112 games, Julio would hit for a .322 average at 37 years old. He was simply a hitting machine.