On MLB Opening Day, No Players From 20th Century Remain in Baseball

Adrian Beltre and Bartolo Colon were the last, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Christian Vazquez #7 of the Boston Red Sox. (Photo by Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)
Christian Vazquez #7 of the Boston Red Sox. (Photo by Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)
Getty Images

It’s not just the dawn of a new year in Major League Baseball; it’s the start of a new era.

Now that longtime infielder Adrian Beltre and veteran pitcher Bartolo Colon have hung up their spikes, there’s not a single active player left from the 20th century in MLB, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

That’s pretty amazing because baseball – with good reason – is often viewed as the stodgiest of the four major American sports. But, it doesn’t have the oldest players and will become the first of the four majors to begin a season without an active player who suited up in the 1900s.

Though he didn’t play in the United States in the 1900s, longtime MLBer Ichiro Suzuki has already retired this season after two hitless games for the Seattle Mariners against the Oakland A’s in Tokyo. “I really wanted to play until I was 50, but I couldn’t do it,” he said.

With players like Ichiro, Beltre, and Colon gone, a young crop of stars including Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Fernando Tatis Jr., Juan Soto, and Ronald Acuña Jr. are ascending into the league to replace them.

It’s also a new era in terms of where baseball will be played as MLB will host games in England for the first time when the Yankees and Red Sox play twice at London’s Olympic Stadium in late June.

Then, there will be two sets of games in Monterrey, Mexico, in April and May. MLB will also hold games in Omaha, Nebraska, as part of the College World Series and in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, to accompany the Little League World Series.

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