Had this guy on my NL-only Fantasy Baseball team for a couple of seasons when he was stealing bases at a quick pace.
He was a ballplayers’ ballplayer.
Most people are just hitting their professional stride at age 36 with their best earning years ahead of them.
Professional athletes; especially those who are not superstars, are dumped in the ditch by age 36, having to adjust to a $50,000 per year job just as family obligations are mounting.
No one is really going to feel sorry for a guy who earned $11 million+ between age 26 and 34; but it must be a mental struggle to deal with being ‘washed up’ at age 36 when your age cohort is in a place where their life is just taking off.
R.I.P Ryan.
Even if you are a highly-successful athlete you have to have something outside of the game to fall back on.....and the one advantage they have is that they can earn the money to start their own business once their playing days are over.....but if baseball is all you have, then it won’t work out very well.
That’s a good point. I hadn’t thought about it from that angle.