List of centenarians (Major League Baseball players)
The following contains a list of Major League Baseball players who lived to the age of 100. For other baseball players and others associated with baseball who were centenarians, see List of centenarians (sportspeople). For other lists of centenarians, see lists of centenarians. Actuarial considerations. No major league player reached the age of 100 until . Although that might seem anomalous because more than 10,000 players had appeared in the major leagues by then, it also has to be considered that Harry Wright was the oldest player during the first season of the National  League in , at age 41, so he could not have reached age 100 until . The majority of ballplayers in 1876 could not have lived to age 100 until after , and there had not been enough players for a reasonable statistical expectation of one becoming a centenarian until the 1970s. Actuarial data. A study by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company that assessed the vital statistics of more than 10,000 baseball players and general mortality rates in the United States concluded that players whose careers began between 1876 and experienced only 97% expected mortality, those who debuted between and had only 64 % expected mortality, and those who debuted between and 1973 experienced only 55% of expected deaths. As early as the 1930s, big league players were exhibiting either a healthy worker effect or the health benefits of the rigorous fitness regimens of professional athletes, or both. However, in this study, vital data on baseball players were limited to those available in the Baseball Encyclopedia. Other smaller studies have shown similar results for players who debuted between and and between 1900 and . One large study examining major league ballplayers with debuts from 1902 and 2004 found that their expected lifespan was almost five  years longer than average 20-year-old American males, and that career length was inversely associated with the risk of death, probably because those who play ball longer gained additional income, physical fitness, and training. In the on-deck circle. The next oldest living former major leaguer is Art Schallock (born April 25, 1924), currently aged .