{"id":47006,"date":"2020-07-11T10:15:18","date_gmt":"2020-07-11T14:15:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/totfc.net\/?p=47006"},"modified":"2020-08-14T10:15:28","modified_gmt":"2020-08-14T14:15:28","slug":"still-got-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/?p=47006","title":{"rendered":"Still got it"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s funny.\u00a0 As I\u2019ve been combing through every single one of my old posts, I came across this one from back in 2011, where I had been applauding Julio Franco\u2019s endless love of the game<\/a> when he was signing with a semi-pro team in Japan at the age of 52.\u00a0 I stated that I never wanted to see him ever stop playing the game of baseball back then.<\/span><\/p>\n

Well it\u2019s 2020 now, the world is at its knees, buckled by a global pandemic which has now been contained primarily in an America that had no clue or want to actually combat it, but out in presumably South Korea, video has surfaced of a now 61-year old Julio Franco<\/a>, still taking cuts inside the batting cage.\u00a0 And still with his trademark wonky batting stance, great bat speed and the ball coming off his bat with a satisfying crack.<\/span><\/p>\n

To my understanding, he\u2019s been a hitting coach for the KBO\u2019s Lotte Giants, and has been since 2016, which means that he is still actively getting paid to contribute to the game of baseball.\u00a0 God bless this guy and his passion for the game that can probably never be rivaled throughout the passage of time.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It\u2019s about the least surprising thing in the world that even at the age of 61, Julio\u2019s physique is still in pristine condition, that his batting stance hasn\u2019t changed a single inch, and he\u2019s still ready to take cuts in the cage whenever anyone wants video proof that he can still swing the lumber.\u00a0 The guy\u2019s dedication to his body is almost as equal to his dedication to the game of baseball, and it fills me with glee to know that he gives no fucks if anyone in affiliated MLB ball thinks he\u2019s worth paying, he\u2019ll just as gladly pack his shit up and go to Mexico, Japan or Korea, to which most know this is very much not his first hurrah<\/a> in the KBO.<\/span><\/p>\n

Seeing him still hopping into the cage and taking cuts, with a goddamn scarf on, no less, brings me a lot of happiness, and I\u2019m delighted but not the least bit surprised to see that Julio\u2019s still got it.<\/span><\/p>\n

The best part is that I don\u2019t think the responses on Twitter about this are entirely wrong; the 2020 MLB season is a joke anyway, and before it gets shut down, I\u2019d love to see some team, out of the race after just 20 games realize that they\u2019re not contending, and then take a flyer on Julio Franco.\u00a0 Considering both leagues are using the DH this year, there\u2019s no denying Julio could at least hit .240 in today\u2019s game, which isn\u2019t saying a tremendous amount, but tons of teams trot out glue guys that hit .186 every single day, because they\u2019re just as important as mentors as they are players.<\/span><\/p>\n

Whatever though, Julio Franco most certainly does still got it.\u00a0 Not sure why he\u2019s picked the age of 66 to throw in the towel, but if I\u2019m at betting man, I don\u2019t think we\u2019ve seen the last of Julio Franco suiting up and actually playing in a professional baseball game.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s funny.\u00a0 As I\u2019ve been combing through every single one of my old posts, I came across this one from back in 2011, where I had been applauding Julio Franco\u2019s endless love of the game when he was signing with a semi-pro team in Japan at the age of 52.\u00a0 I stated that I never … Continue reading Still got it<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[62,103,52],"class_list":["post-47006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-brog","tag-baseball","tag-motherland","tag-owned"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47006"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47006\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47008,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47006\/revisions\/47008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}