Athletes Who Found One Last Burst of Greatness
Los Angeles Angels' Albert Pujols is experiencing a career resurgence in this, his 15th MLB season. But will it be his one, last burst of greatness?
Many athletes over the years have shown they can still perform at a high level even amid advancing age. Randy Johnson pitched a perfect game at 40. George Foreman became the heavyweight champion of the world at 45.
The list can't include athletes like Jaromir Jagr or Tim Duncan because they are still playing and therefore might have some bursts of greatness left. Seriously, Duncan just keeps crushing it, despite the fact it feels like he's 50 years old (he's 39).
Whose final epic performances were most impressive? Let's find out.
Honorable Mention: Albert Pujols, 2015
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This is an honorable mention because Pujols is still active, so it's hard to tell if this will be his last surge. However, he's having a great season, so a nod is warranted.
Unfortunately for the Los Angeles Angels, Pujols has been, by and large, a disappointment since his massive 2011 contract. Already over 30 when the deal went down, his production at the plate immediately began to decline, and injuries plagued him in 2012 and 2013.
Some may have thought Pujols was done, but now he's back. He got going in May, hitting .271/.301/.533 with four home runs. Then in June, he really ramped up, exploding for 13 homers and batting .303/.395/.737. Pujols just made his first All-Star team since leaving St. Louis.
Other honorable mentions have to go to Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez, who are having similar late-career surges with the New York Yankees.
Honorable Mention: Meb Keflezighi, 2014
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Meb Keflezighi, aka Meb, is not technically retired, though a repeat of his 2014 resurgence does seem unlikely.
Meb is an American distance runner who has competed in the Olympics at the 2,000-meter, 10,000-meter and marathon distances. As a marathoner, his biggest accomplishments before 2014 were a 2009 win at the New York City Marathon, a victory at the 2012 Olympic Marathon Trials and a silver medal at the 2004 Olympics.
In 2014, Meb became the first American male in 31 years to win the historic Boston Marathon, and he did it in a personal-best time of 2:08:37. At age 38, he was the oldest Boston Marathon winner since 1931, according to Mario Fraioli of Competitor.com.
Honorable Mention: Peyton Manning, 2013
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Peyton Manning also gets an honorable mention for being an active player. The legendary quarterback missed the entire 2011 season due to injury, and the Indianapolis Colts, weren't sure he could still play as he once had. In fact, many wondered how his injuries and age would affect his play going forward.
Thus, the team released him, and Manning eventually signed with the Denver Broncos for the 2012 season. Right away, the future Hall of Famer proved he still had it, but 2013 was his brilliant late-career year.
Manning broke the single-season records for both passing yards and touchdowns. He finished with 5,477 yards, 55 TDs and just 10 interceptions. Not surprisingly, he ran away with the league MVP Award.
Dominik Hasek, 2006-08
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NHL Hall of Famer Dominik Hasek enjoyed resounding success during his nine seasons with the Buffalo Sabres from 1992 to 2001. He won the Vezina Trophy as the league's best goaltender six times, all during that span.
The Dominator later won two Stanley Cups with the Detroit Red Wings in 2002 and 2008. His final stint with the Red Wings from 2006 to 2008 proved he was still supremely talented, even in his 40s. In 56 games in the 2006-07 season, he went 38-11 with a .913 save percentage.
The 2007-08 season was Hasek's last, and he shared time with Chris Osgood in net. Still, he was impressive, posting a 2.14 goals-against average and recording a .902 save percentage in 41 games played. He and Osgood were awarded the Jennings Trophy for goalie with the fewest goals scored against.
Grant Hill, 2010-11
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Grant Hill was a seven-time All-Star, a resilient contributor despite an NBA career hindered by injuries.
In 2010-11 with the Phoenix Suns, Hill became just the seventh player in league history to average 13 or more points per game at age 38 or older. He was also praised for his defensive prowess that season, despite guarding Kobe Bryant on a night when the Mamba dropped 42.
According to David Aldridge of NBA.com, then-Suns coach Alvin Gentry said:
"The guy should be on the all-defensive team, and I'll keep saying that. And I'm saying that after a guy (Bryant) just got 42 points. But I can tell you right now, on anybody else, he would have gotten 60. What he's done at his age, and what he's brought to our team, I don't know if you can verbalize what he means to our team, or what he does for our team.
"
Mia Hamm, 2004
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Mia Hamm will go down as one of the greatest soccer players in U.S. history. Playing on the national team from 1987 to 2004, Hamm was named the U.S. Soccer Female Athlete of the Year five consecutive times from 1994 to 1998. She was also the all-time American women's goal-scorer until Abby Wambach broke that record in 2013.
Hamm was part of two World Cup victories and two gold-medal-winning Olympic teams. In her final international competition—the 2004 Olympics—Hamm scored two goals in group play and set up a crucial score in the Americans' semifinal victory over Germany.
Nicklas Lidstrom, 2010-11
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It's tough to say Nicklas Lidstrom had any type of career resurgence late in the game, since his whole career was consistently excellent.
Lindstrom played his entire two-decade NHL career with the Detroit Red Wings. The defenseman won four Stanley Cup titles and took home the Norris Trophy seven times. He helped lead his native Sweden to an Olympic gold medal in 2006, scoring a goal in a 3-2 final victory over Finland.
In the 2010-11 season, his second-to-last, Lindstrom was still a first-team All-Star and Norris Trophy winner.
Brett Favre, 2009
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Brett Favre first started to publicly float the idea of retirement in 2006 at age 37, when he was still with the Green Bay Packers.
You know what happened next—a lot of back and forth, a stint with the New York Jets and what many thought was a one-way decline toward the end of the legend's career.
Then, Favre went to Minnesota. He spent two seasons with the Vikings, the first of which was unexpectedly impressive. Favre showed flashes of his former self, throwing for over 4,200 yards, 33 touchdowns and just seven interceptions. He lead the Vikings to a 12-4 record and a playoff berth, and some people even thought he had a case for league MVP.
Derek Jeter, 2012
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Derek Jeter is a surefire Hall of Famer and will be remembered as one of the greatest New York Yankees of all time—an incredible feat when the likes of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Yogi Berra are also on that list. He's a 14-time All-Star, five-time World Series champion and five-time Gold Glover.
Still, Jeter faced criticism over his defensive range, particularly later in his career. In 2010, there was even some doubt that the Yankees would re-sign their captain—general manager Brian Cashman told him to "test the market," according to Wallace Matthew of ESPN.com.
Re-sign Jeter they did, and he went on to have a truly stellar 2012 campaign at the age of 38. He led the majors in hits with 216, batted .316/.362/.429 and finished seventh in the MVP voting.
Jerry Rice, 2002
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By the time he left the San Francisco 49ers after 16 seasons, Jerry Rice's legend was already set in stone. Rice is the NFL's all-time leader in career pass receptions and yards, and he recorded the most 1,000-plus-yard seasons.
Rice left San Francisco in 2001 due to salary cap issues and went on to play four more seasons, mostly with the Oakland Raiders. He had one last surge of brilliance in 2002 at the age of 40, catching 92 balls for 1,211 yards and making his last Pro Bowl.
Michael Jordan, 2002-03
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Let's be honest. Even Michael Jordan's two years with the Washington Wizards were well above average.
MJ played in all 82 games of his final NBA season in 2002-03. He averaged 37 minutes, 20 points and six rebounds per game and, of course, made the All-Star team.
Jordan did show signs of his age, and it was far from his best season. Then again, when you're the GOAT, mostly everything you do constitutes a flash of greatness.
Bernard Hopkins, 2011
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At 50 years old, Bernard Hopkins hasn't officially retired from boxing. In fact, he told Dan Rafael of ESPN.com in January he wants to fight at least once at 50.
Now a boxer and a promoter, Hopkins became the undisputed middleweight champion in 2001 when he knocked out Felix Trinidad. According to BoxRec, he holds a 55-7-2 professional record, having won by knockout 48 percent of the time—one of those coming against Oscar De La Hoya in 2004.
Hopkins' amazing late-career highlight occurred in 2011. At 46 years old, he defeated Jean Pascal by unanimous decision for the light heavyweight title. He became the oldest world champion in boxing history in the process.
Paul Molitor, 1996
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Paul Molitor had a MLB-Hall-of-Fame-worthy career spanning over two decades. He played what some may have thought was his last great season in 1993. The 37-year-old became the oldest player in MLB history to collect over 100 RBI for the first time (he collected 111, along with 211 hits). He was also named the World Series MVP.
But no, his final surge of greatness came in 1996. In the year he turned 40, Molitor batted an unbelievable .341/.390/.468 with 113 RBI and 225 hits and finished 13th in the MVP voting.
Teemu Selanne, 2010-11
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Teemu Selanne was one of the NHL's great goal scorers. His 23 years of production proved incredible longevity in a punishing sport, and he still holds the record for most rookie goals in a season (76).
According to Rob Vollmann, a contributor for Bleacher Report, Selanne's numbers declined slightly in the years leading up to the 2005 lockout, but he came back to life when play resumed.
Selanne's brilliance was on display again during the 2010-11 season. The 40-year-old scored 80 points in 73 games, the eighth-highest in the league that year.
Roger Clemens, 2004 and '05
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Roger Clemens won his first Cy Young in 1986 and his seventh—and final—in 2004. The Rocket's last two seasons with the New York Yankees in 2002 and 2003, were subpar by his standards—he won 13 and 17 games, respectively.
Clemens returned to Houston in 2004, where he won 18 games and struck out 218 with a 2.98 ERA en route to that Cy Young Award. His 2005 season was remarkable as well. Clemens only won 13 games, but he posted an astonishing 1.87 ERA.
Kurt Warner, 2008
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Retired NFL quarterback Kurt Warner had three consecutive Pro Bowl seasons from 1999 to 2001 with the St. Louis Rams. Then, from 2002 to 2006, he didn't start more than 10 games in a season, moving from St. Louis to the New York Giants and then the Arizona Cardinals.
To say Warner's 2008 season constituted a flash of greatness would be an understatement. After spending five-plus seasons battling for playing time, Warner led the Cardinals to a Super Bowl.
Along the way, he threw for 4,583 yards and 30 touchdowns. He finished the regular season with a higher passer rating than Drew Brees, Peyton Manning and Aaron Rodgers and made his fourth and final Pro Bowl.
Jackie Joyner-Kersee, 1996
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Jackie Joyner-Kersee is one of America's all-time great track and field athletes. She won six Olympic medals—three gold, one silver and two bronze—from 1984 to 1996. In 1988, she set the heptathlon world record by scoring over 7,000 points.
Eight years after her iconic performance in Seoul, Kersee won her final Olympic medal—a bronze in the long jump in Atlanta. She was 34 years old.
The most impressive thing about Kersee's last podium appearance, however, was that she came from behind to achieve it. According to Laura Williamson of the Daily Mail, Kersee was in seventh place entering the final round and accomplished a jump of 7 meters to earn a medal.
Mario Lemieux, 2002-03
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Mario Lemieux was one of the greatest hockey players of all time. His led the NHL in scoring six times and won the Hart Memorial Trophy for the league's most valuable player three times. But his career was not without significant challenges.
Lemieux was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma in 1993, and he sat out the entire 1994-95 season with back problems. He retired in 1997, still relatively young in his early 30s. He became an owner of the team with which he achieved such great success, the Pittsburgh Penguins, in 1999.
Not long after, Lemieux announced his comeback as a player. In the 2002-03 season, he displayed his brilliance once again, scoring 28 goals and 91 points in 67 games.
Randy Johnson, 2004
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Hall of Famer Randy Johnson was, generally speaking, a late bloomer. His first of five Cy Youngs came after he turned 30. He won the award four consecutive times with the Arizona Diamondbacks from 1999 to 2002.
Knee surgery in 2003 put a chink in the armor, however, and Johnson only started 18 games that season. Approaching 40 years old, that might've been the end of it for some pitchers, but not the Big Unit.
He rebounded in 2004 to win 16 games with a 2.60 ERA and 290 strikeouts. He finished second in the Cy Young voting and, oh by the way, became the oldest pitcher to toss a perfect game at 40 years old.
John Elway, 1999
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John Elway's last surge of brilliance came in a single game—his last. The nine-time Pro Bowler, 1987 MVP and Hall of Famer played in five Super Bowls in his career, winning the final two.
In the 1998 regular season, the 38-year-old Elway threw for 2,806 yards and 22 touchdowns. The last game of his career was Super Bowl XXXIII in January 1999. He threw for 336 yards, tossed a touchdown and interception apiece and took home the Super Bowl MVP.
One last burst of greatness—literally.
Rickey Henderson, 1998 and '99
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Rickey Henderson had a long and successful MLB career, a one-two punch of offensive prowess and speed. He broke the record for career steals in 1991, his 13th year in the league. Then, he went on to play for 12 more seasons. The Hall of Famer stole over 100 bags a season three times, won the MVP Award in 1991 and made 10 All-Star teams.
After his last All-Star season in 1991, Henderson bounced around the league, still productive but showing some signs of age. Then, back with Oakland in 1998, the 39-year-old stole 66 bases and drew 110 walks, leading the league in both categories.
At 40 years young, Henderson batted .315/.423/.466, stole 37 bags and knocked out 12 home runs with the Mets in 1999.
Dara Torres, 2000 and 2008
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American swimmer Dara Torres had not one but two late-career resurgences. The 12-time Olympic medalist competed in the 1984, '88 and '92 Olympics before retiring with four medals.
Torres came back in 1999 and went on to win five medals at the 2000 Games in Sydney. According to Marissa Payne of the the Washington Post, Torres, at 33, was the oldest female swimmer to medal in the Olympics.
Then, in 2008, she broke her own record after making another Olympic comeback. The 41-year-old took home three medals from Beijing.
George Foreman, 1994
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George Foreman had had a brilliant boxing career when he retired in 1977. At that time, he had already been a world heavyweight champion and defended his title twice.
Then, in 1987, at age 38 and after almost 10 years out of boxing, Foreman staged a comeback. He won 24 consecutive fights—including 22 by knockout—and almost defeated Evander Holyfield to regain the belt in 1991.
Finally, in 1994, at 45 years of age, Foreman took back his title, defeating 26-year-old Michael Moorer and becoming the oldest heavyweight champion in boxing history.
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