Where does Max Scherzer rank among oldest Blue Jays starting pitchers of all time?
Photo credit: © Tim Heitman-Imagn Images
By Ian Hunter
Feb 2, 2025, 11:00 ESTUpdated: Feb 3, 2025, 08:08 EST
One of the greatest sports tweets/X posts of all time might be: “Here comes the oldest player in the league. He’s 32. A miracle.” As someone in their early 40s, it’s horrifying that an athlete in their mid-to-late 30s is considered “washed up” when I am prehistoric by comparison.
Time marches on and yet MLB players in their 40s are still finding employment, the latest being 40-year-old Max Scherzer’s one-year deal with the Toronto Blue Jays. Along with Justin Verlander and Charlie Morton, these elder statesmen are marching forward until Father Time taps them on the shoulder.
When Mad Max dons a Blue Jays uniform, he’ll be one of the oldest starting pitchers to play for the Blue Jays. But he’s a spring chicken compared to at least one other player on this list of the oldest Blue Jays starting pitchers (or pitchers who started a game, at least).
10. Dave Stewart: 37 years old, 164 days
The 1994 MLB season was forgettable for many reasons, but with the strike looming, Dave Stewart may have been fine with being locked out. By the time he made his final start of the season, he had a 5.87 ERA in 22 starts for the Blue Jays.
Suffice to say the Blue Jays got a big-name pitcher when they inked Stewart to a two-year/$8.5 million contract, but they didn’t get big-time results they were hoping for (although he was a beast in the 1993 ALCS, just not a regular season ace).
9. Paolo Espino: 37 years old, 203 days
A recent entry on this list, 37-year-old Paolo Espino was called up to make a spot start at the end of July last year. He was gone as swiftly as he arrived. The Orioles tagged him for four earned runs, and he was optioned back down to triple-A the following day.
8. Jack Morris: 38 years old, 116 days
Much like his high-priced counterpart in Stewart, Jack Morris was also having a rough time as a starter with the Blue Jays in 1993. Combined, they were supposed to be the dominant 1-2 punch at the top of the rotation, but Juan Guzman and Pat Hentgen ended up being the most valuable starters on the squad that year.
7. Mike Flanagan: 38 years old, 139 days
Mike Flanagan was a long-time Baltimore Oriole, but he came over to the Blue Jays at the 1987 trade deadline. He stayed with the club until May 1990, when the Blue Jays released him. Flanagan then finished his career back where he started, with the Baltimore Orioles.
In 1989, Flanagan had the distinction of being the first pitcher to give up a home run into the 500 Level of SkyDome. It was a moonshot from Jose Canseco in Game 4 of the 1989 ALCS.
6. Danny Darwin: 39 years old, 240 days
No, not Darwin Barney, Danny Darwin at 39 years old made a handful of starts for the Blue Jays in 1995. His ERA as a starter that year was 7.37 in 15 games, his worst being a nine-earned run game against the Texas Rangers on May 17, 1995.
Shockingly, that is not among the most earned runs given up by a Blue Jays starter in a single game. That honour belongs to David Wells, who amassed a 13-earned run game on August 20, 1992.
5. Ramon Ortiz: 40 years old, 10 days
I will never forget the image of Ramon Ortiz hunched behind the mound, knowing that was the last pitch he threw in his career. It was a sad moment on June 2, 2013, when Ortiz came out of the game mid-game with an elbow injury.
That was the last game he appeared in as a big leaguer at 40 years and 10 days old.
4. Max Scherzer: 40 years old, 189 days
Welcome to Toronto, Mad Max! With three Cy Young Awards under his belt and a spot in Cooperstown coming his way, Max Scherzer is the most decorated starting pitcher on this list. If he makes it through the entire season, he might even leapfrog the next player on this list.
3. Dave Stieb: 41 years old, 55 days
So, this is a bit of a tricky one. Dave Stieb was not a starting pitcher with the Blue Jays in 1998 per se (16 of his 19 appearances were as a reliever), but he had one last kick at the can on September 15, 1998, as a starter against the Cleveland Guardians. That puts him on the rankings, even if it was limited.
2. R.A. Dickey: 41 years old, 323 days
The first of two 40-something knuckleballers on this list, there must be something about throwing a funky pitch that allows starting pitchers to pitch late into their careers. Case in point: Robert Allen Dickey. He was the oldest active player in MLB during the 2015 and 2016 seasons.
He pitched his age 38 through 41 seasons with the Blue Jays, often a reliable starter who led the league in games started on two separate occasions. Dickey never recaptured that magic of his 2012 season with the Mets, but he was as durable as a starter you’ll find.
1. Phil Niekro: 48 years old, 150 days
The Blue Jays were willing to try anything to win ball games in August 1987, as they gave veteran starter Phil Niekro a three-game stint to show if he had any gas left in the tank. He did not. After that third game, the Blue Jays released the future Hall of Famer.
It may have been an early red flag that things were going awry for the 1987 Blue Jays, as they would squander a seven-game division lead just one month later, and bounced from contention on the last day of the season.
But hey, at least fans got to see Niekro’s dancing knuckleball one last time before he was inducted into the Hall of Fame.
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