After playing for -- and jumping from -- ballclubs in seemingly every baseball league and circuit in the Western hemisphere over five different decades, legendary pitcher Satchel Paige became known as baseball's Methuselah, a reference to a righteous person mentioned in the Old Testament who lived to be more than 950 years old.
Late in the 1965 season, Paige pitched in a Major League game at age 59. While waiting in the Kansas City Athletics' bullpen to make his appearance in that contest, the right-hander lounged in a rocking chair.
It's entirely was possible that there is now a rocking chair in the St. Louis Cardinals' bullpen at Busch Stadium.
While it has long been believed that no one would ever come close to topping Paige's record as the oldest player to participate in an MLB game, anyone following Game 1 of the World Series on Twitter could be forgiven for thinking that someone had actually broken that record in the Cardinals' win on Wednesday night
With two outs and nobody on in the top of the eighth inning, St. Louis skipper Tony La Russa called for Arthur Rhodes from the bullpen. La Russa wanted the 41-year-old left-hander to face left-handed Josh Hamilton, the reigning American League MVP. Making his first World Series appearance after 20 years in the Majors and more than 900 games -- including 32 with the Texas Rangers earlier this season -- Rhodes did his job. Hamilton flied out to center field and the eighth was closed.
Although Rhodes' appearance in the game -- as well as his appearance in the game -- didn't seem to inspire much confidence at first, he certainly brought forth a torrent of comical and concerned tweets. Rhodes' effectiveness in his brief outing seemed to only further inspire those already riffing on his age and longevity. Soon enough, Rhodes was trending on Twitter and folks were joking about his career numbers against Ty Cobb and inserting him into historic baseball moments like Game 6 of the 1975 World Series.
Here are some of the wittiest (or informative) tweets from the unexpected flash meme inspired by an aging middle reliever.