List of Major League Baseball players who played in four decades

Several qualities are virtually essential. Outstanding skill and durability are paramount, and a player must also have some "generational luck" to have started his career in the later years of a decade, so that if he is still playing 21–24 years later, he is playing in the early years of a fourth decade.[1] For example, Pete Rose started his career in 1963, so he would have had to play 28 seasons to make the list. Whereas Bill Buckner, whose career started in the last year of the 1960s, finished his career in the first year of the 1990s, requiring only 22 seasons to make the list. Most of the players on the list started their careers in the final or second-to-last year of their first decade and finished their careers in the first or second year of their fourth decade (a notable exception is Nolan Ryan, whose 27 seasons played is a major league record). Only Nick Altrock and Minnie Miñoso appeared in major league baseball games in five decades.

Since 1900 (the first year that a player could play in a "fourth decade"), every decade except the 1940s has added at least one player to the list, including the current one (though the 1970s only added Minnie Miñoso, who played three games in 1976 after having been out of the majors for more than a decade. There is no current active player who played in the 1990s, though Rick Ankiel, who first pitched in 1999, has expressed a desire to return to pitching in the Majors).

The players are listed by primary position played and years spanning their careers. Ten players from the group have been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Of the 29 players, 11 were primarily pitchers, six were primarily catchers, six were primarily outfielders, and six were primarily infielders; the group covers virtually the complete range of baseball positions, missing only a third baseman.

Key

	Member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame

List

Player	Position	First season	Last season
Dan Brouthers	First baseman	1879	1904
Jim O'Rourke	Outfielder	1872	1904
Kid Gleason	Pitcher / Second baseman	1888	1912
Deacon McGuire	Catcher	1884	1912
Jack O'Connor	Catcher	1887	1912
Jack Ryan	Catcher	1889	1913
Nick Altrock	Pitcher	1898	1933
Eddie Collins	Second baseman	1906	1930
Jack Quinn	Pitcher	1909	1933
Bobo Newsom	Pitcher	1929	1953
Mickey Vernon	First baseman	1939	1960
Ted Williams	Outfielder	1939	1960
Early Wynn	Pitcher	1939	1963
Minnie Miñoso	Outfielder	1949	1980
Jim Kaat	Pitcher	1959	1983
Tim McCarver	Catcher	1959	1980
Willie McCovey	First baseman	1959	1980
Bill Buckner	First baseman	1969	1990
Rick Dempsey	Catcher	1969	1992
Carlton Fisk	Catcher	1969	1993
Jerry Reuss	Pitcher	1969	1990
Nolan Ryan	Pitcher	1966	1993
Rickey Henderson	Outfielder	1979	2003
Mike Morgan	Pitcher	1978	2002
Jesse Orosco	Pitcher	1979	2003
Tim Raines	Outfielder	1979	2002
Ken Griffey Jr.	Outfielder	1989	2010
Jamie Moyer	Pitcher	1986	2012
Omar Vizquel	Shortstop	1989	2012

• Hunt, Ryan (February 17, 2000). "Been a long time: Three more enter baseball's four-decade club". Sports Illustrated.