Yankee doodle

According to ESPN, the Yankees have the oldest team in baseball (average age: 31.3 years) — no surprise there. That figure is actually pulled down by the pitching staff; just taking into account position players, I found an average of 32.69 years. (On Aug. 26, Jayson Nix will have a birthday, and that figure will jump to 32.77.)

But this isn't really an accurate method of calculating. To get a real average, down to the decimal, we need to include the ages of the players with decimals, ages down to the day.

Ta-da!

Russell Martin (2/15/83): 29.51 years
Chris Stewart (2/19/82): 30.5
Robinson Cano (10/22/82): 29.83
Eric Chavez (12/7/77): 34.7
Derek Jeter (6/26/74): 38.15
Casey McGehee (10/12/82): 29.86*
Jayson Nix (8/26/82): 29.99
Mark Teixeira (4/11/80): 32.36
Curtis Granderson (3/16/81): 31.43
Raul Ibanez (6/2/72): 40.22
Andruw Jones (4/23/77): 35.33
Ichiro Suzuki (10/22/73): 38.83
Nick Swisher (11/25/80): 31.73

That gives us a more accurate average of 33.26 years**.

Now for some fun.

We can convert .26 years to 95 days, which would mean our "average" Yankee batter was born on May 19, 1979 (not taking into account leap years).

So what would the life of our Yankee look like? In the spirit of Beloit's "Mindset List," a look at some of his sports touchstones.

• Yankee had not yet turned 1 when the Americans beat the Soviets in the "Miracle on Ice" game. Yankee continued to watch the Soviets compete in the Olympics until he was 13.
• Yankee was 3 when Cal beat Stanford.
• Yankee was 5 when Michael Jordan was drafted, one pick after Sam Bowie. That same year, Yankee watched a perfect Mary Lou Retton. And he also saw the Hail Flutie.
• A 7-year-old Yankee watched the ball get by Bill Buckner.
• When Reggie White entered the NFL, Yankee was 6. When White died, Yankee was 25.
• Yankee was 10 when Wayne Gretzky passed Gordie Howe on the career points list. He was also 10 when Pete Rose was banned from baseball for life.
• Yankee missed the World Series (because it was canceled) when he was 15.
• For the O.J. Simpson verdict, Yankee was 16. (He got to watch Simpson play for the first year of his life.) Around the same time, Yankee watched Cal Ripken Jr. break Lou Gehrig's consecutive games record.
• Yankee was approaching his 11th birthday when Mike Tyson lost to Buster Douglas. He was 18 when Tyson bit Evander Holyfield. He was approaching 24 when Tyson got his face tattoo.
• Yankee was wearing his Giants jersey to school at age 11 when Scott Norwood sent his kick wide right.
• Yankee was just weeks away from his 18th birthday when, at 21, Tiger Woods became history's youngest Masters champion. (This coming after watching Jack Nicklaus win the Masters when he was 6 to Nicklaus's 46.) When Woods's marital infidelities came to light, Yankee was 30.
• When the Core Four won their first World Series as major contributors***, in 1998, Yankee was 19.
• When Mark McGwire hit 70 homers, Yankee was 19. When the Mitchell Report was released, Yankee was 28.
• When Yankee got another ring in 2009, he was 30.
• Yankee was not yet 32 when "old" Tim Duncan did not play.

For some further fun:

• The UPC made its debut on Derek Jeter's birthday, June 26, 1974. Also on his birthday, Jason Kendall was born.

* - Casey, you're only 29? Do you smoke cigarettes, or do you rub them all over your face?

** - I considered weighting by at-bats, but it's late, so that will have to wait for another time.

*** - We could have used 1996, but Jorge Posada batted a robust .071 in eight games that season.