New York Mets: Bartolo Colon is an Ageless Wonder

Bartolo Colon continues to defy all the odds . His age, physical makeup, and 85-mph fastball should make him a hitters delight. Except, they don’t.

I recall a day in August of 2005 when I drove the 65 miles to the old Yankee Stadium to watch a game between the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Angels. In those days, if you got there early you could stand and watch the players walk in from the parking lot. Occasionally, they would stop on their way in to sign autographs or just to chat for a minute.

As the Angels’ team bus pulled up and the players disembarked, two guys next to me called out “Bart, Bart”. Recognizing them, he came over and they had an extensive conversation in Spanish I didn’t understand. What stands out in my mind though is looking at this roly-poly guy and saying to myself, “This guy is a successful pitcher in the major leagues? Are you kidding me?”

Which is to say that even back then at the age of 30, all Bartolo Colon ever did was get major league hitters out. He would go 21-8 that year and pitch the Angels to the ALDS. From there, his career would stall over the next four years when he would win a total of only 14 games. Loud and clear, the calls came that he was washed up, finished, kaput.

But somewhere along the line, Colon figured something out that very few pitchers seem to grasp these days. He realized that the name of the game is to get batters out, and it doesn’t matter how you do it, or how you look when you are doing it. In 2011, at the age of 38, he signed a one-year deal with the Yankees. Then, it was on to Oakland for two years where he went 18-6 in 2012. Remarkably, the A’s didn’t offer him a contract and it was then that the Mets grabbed him off what was still considered the “scrapyard”.

Now, on his third successive one-year contract with the Mets, Colon is proving that age doesn’t matter. He’s fast becoming the Mets version of Jamie Moyer, who pitched successfully until the ripe young age of 49. Or maybe Nolan Ryan who recorded his seventh no hitter at the age of 44.

Casey Stengel, often mockingly, used to refer to the Mets of the 1960’s as Amazin’. But Bartolo Colon is the real thing and he truly is amazing. Not only does he continue to win games (228 and counting), but he’s doing it in a way that a way that is entertaining and fun to watch. Much like Pedro Martinez in the latter stages of his career, you simply can’t take your eyes off him when he’s on the playing field.

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And, for the baseball purists like myself who like to watch the game within the game, Colon puts on a pitching clinic that should be required viewing for any pitcher who signs a professional baseball contract. To be sure, he’ll give up quite a few hits. After all, if a hitter guesses right on a pitch coming in at only 85-mph, and it’s location is off by an inch, hits will come.

But the artistry of Colon is that he doesn’t allow hits in bunches. With runners on base, he gets even craftier by slamming the door on a crooked number inning with tantalizing tosses that look fat until that last fraction of a second when they break two inches this way or that way. And all of a sudden you look up at the scoreboard and his line reads, 6 IP, 9 hits, 2 runs, 9 strikeouts, and 1 walk. You shake your head and say to yourself, “Darn it, he’s done it again!”

If the Mets are smart, they’ll sign Colon to another one year deal the day after the season ends. Because from all appearances, Colon is the Energizer Bunny of baseball and there’s more wins and fun still to come.

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