[timn1]

Looking at Tommy Brown's record from 1945, I wondered about the longevity of other players on that team, as I knew Branca had lived to a ripe age. I know it sounds unlikely, but there was some impressive fountain-of-youth water in Brooklyn in 1945. They had a roster full of obscure dudes like every team in '45, but look at these lifespans-

Bordagaray 1910-2000 90
Branca 1926-2016 90
Lund 1923-2013 90
Buker 1918-2011 93
Rudolph 1909-2003 94
Pfund 1919-2016 97
Olmo 1919-2017 98
Brown 1927-2025 98
Hayworth 1904-2002 98
Basinski 1922-2021 99
Hathaway 1916-2015 99
Sukeforth 1901-2000 99
Sandlock 1915-2016 101

Almost half the team's roster (20) lived to be at least 85. 8 guys made it to 97 - to me that's amazing.

Then for a point of comparison, I checked the 1910 Brooklyn team (pretty much a random choice) - only 2 guys lived to 85 or more (Rucker and Knetzer). Just over half were dead before the age of 70.