More than other team sports, baseball grants its players longevity.
Being on the wrong side of 35 isn’t such an awful thing. I could muster a formidable 25-man roster comprised strictly of MLB players who are of that age or older.
Time eventually reduces all athletes, but elite baseball players often sustain their level of play as their hair grays.
Veterans of the game adjust to adversity. They continue to contribute even when agility, bat speed and arm strength deserts them.
It is a sport unintentionally engineered to preserve its athletes.