At 70, He Pitches to Major Leaguers

Batting practice is about accuracy, not strategy. If you can throw strikes that the players can hit hard, then you’re doing your job. There are not a lot of 70-year-olds out there throwing batting practice. I’ve been doing it for the Giants for 41 years.

It started by chance. I’d spent 4½ years in minor-league baseball before getting a “real job” in commercial real estate. But I still had friends in baseball. One was Ricky Lee Adams, who was playing for the Giants. While I was visiting him at Candlestick Park in 1985, some of the coaches said they had sore arms and asked if I’d throw batting practice. I had a blast, and just kept showing up. Nobody told me to stay home, so I kept coming. They paid me $20 a day.

(From left) Haro Ogawa, Jeremy Affeldt, Brian Wilson, Dan Runzler, John Yandle and Javier Lopez celebrate after the Giants beat the Phillies to win the 2010 NLCS.

Courtesy San Francisco Giants

Now whenever they’re going to face a left-handed pitcher, I’m there. I’ll leave my office and drive up to the stadium, or perhaps fly to wherever they’re playing. It’s often very last-minute. After the batters warm up, they’ll ask me to hurl specific pitches at them in the batting cage. That’s my favorite part. Giants’ slugger Barry Bonds would ask for curve balls, sliders and change-ups. He worked harder than anybody else. It’s an experience I’ll never forget.

Yandle spent more than four years as a minor league player.

AARP

Eleven years ago, I tore the rotator cuff in my left shoulder. But thanks to my surgeon, my arm healed up great, and six months to the day after my surgery, I was back at it.

To stay ready, I work out in the off-season, doing bodywork, plyometrics, yoga — just keeping active. The funny thing is that if I go out and weed in the backyard, I can barely stand up the next day. But I can throw for four days in a row and be fine. I throw an 80-mile-per-hour fastball, and now I stand 10 feet in front of the mound.

If I get to the point where the players are close enough to hit me with their bats, that’s when I’ll know it’s time to retire. But even then, I’ll still show up for the Giants. They’ve become like family to me. Maybe I’ll sell cotton candy.

I don’t take any of this for granted. Every year, I feel that I have to prove myself, to show the team that age doesn’t make that much difference. Whenever they call me, I’m there. It’d be so easy to say, “I don’t want to do it today.” But I’ve learned that if you are persistent and positive, you can surprise yourself.

Real estate executive John Yandle, 70, lives in Menlo Park, California. He is the father of three and the owner of three World Series rings.