Age Is Just a Number: The Best 40-Year-Olds in Sports

It’s no secret that sports are a young man’s or woman’s game. Whether it’s baseball or football or tennis or swimming, young adults have many advantages over their older counterparts as athleticism wanes as one ages. Speed, strength, flexibility, health, reflexes — they all decline as one progresses from their 20s to their 30s and especially when they reach their 40s.

But some athletes have been better than others at staving off Father Time. Whether they’ve slowed the aging process thanks to sports medicine advancements, reinvented themselves with new skills or simply used experience and knowledge to stay a step ahead, athletes from all kinds of sports have remained productive into their 40s and, for some, even beyond! 

Ponce de Leon had these athletes in mind when searching for the Fountain of Youth. Here are the best 40-year-old athletes of all time.

Birthdate: Jan. 26, 1977

Sport: Basketball

Career: 22 seasons (1999-2020)

Stats after 40: 194 G, 6.9 PPG, 35 Dunks

The only player in NBA history to play 22 seasons and the only player in NBA history to compete in four decades, Carter transformed his game as he aged. He is best remembered as a high-flyer and arguably the greatest dunker ever, but as he got older, his game became more floor-bound. 

Over 60 percent of Carter’s field goal attempts after turning 40 were 3-pointers, compared to just over 25 percent during his 20s and 30s. But he still had some hops in his reserves and showed off a between-the-legs dunk at age 40 during a shootaround.

Birthdate: April 17, 1852

Sport: Baseball

Career: 27 seasons (1871-97)

Stats after 40: 676 G, .317 BA, 90 SB

Anson, who began his MLB career at 19 years old, played until he was 45 and holds most of the MLB records for players over 40. He is the all-time leader in hits, runs, RBI and walks for players over 40, while ranking second in stolen bases and batting average. Anson, however, did have quite an advantage in receiving playing time at such an advanced age because he was actually a player-manager. 

Thus, Anson the manager often penciled in Anson the player into the starting lineup and ahead of guys half his age. Perhaps coincidentally, once Anson retired as a player, he also essentially gave up managing and only managed 22 more games after retiring.