Longest career in the Big 4

LarkinCollector

https://www.cbssports.com/nhl/news/joe-thornton-says-he-plans-on-returning-for-22nd-nhl-season-jokes-he-has-nothing-else-going-on/

If he plays another 5-10 years as he states he wants to, that would be a minimum of 26 seasons as a pro. Would that be a record for BB/BkB/FB/HK?

erikthredd

Gordie Howe,Julio Franco,Morten Anderson & Adam Vinatieri were four off the top of my head but I had to google their stats. Vinatieri is coming back for his 24th season
Morten Anderson played 25 years
Franco played 23 seasons
Howe played 26 seasons in the NHL and 6 in the WHA.

erikthredd

Actually some of those above may not be correct. Pro-Reference counts each season with each team as one season even if someone played for multiple teams in one season.

edit: they are correct

orioles93

Jaromir Jagr played quite a while

SDSportsFan

Nolan Ryan pitched 27 seasons.

Steve

SDSportsFan

Also, Tommy John pitched 26 seasons over 27 years (sat out 1975 due to surgery), and Jamie Moyer pitched 25 seasons over 27 years (sat out 1992 and 2011).

Steve

larryallen73

@SDSportsFan said:
Also, Tommy John pitched 26 seasons over 27 years (sat out 1975 due to surgery), and Jamie Moyer pitched 25 seasons over 27 years (sat out 1992 and 2011).

Steve

They just called it "arm surgery" when he had his done. Lol.

TennisCoach

George Blanda played 26 seasons in the NFL~ in addition to his kicking duties he played several years at quarterback and even 1 season as a linebacker. He probably thought of himself as a QB/LB that could kick!

garnettstyle

Rickey Henderson 25 seasons.