A few months ago, I was having breakfast with my pastor, who is 37 years old. Our discussion turned to how we sometimes forget that we are as old as we are. He said, “Sometimes I think I could still pay for the Braves, and then I realize that guys retire from baseball before they reach my age.”

Kurt, this one’s for you.

The Kansas City Royals are calling up a left-handed pitcher from Triple-A to start on Tuesday night. What’s unusual about this move is that Rich Hill is 45 years old.

Hill will be the first pitcher aged 45 or older in the majors since Bartolo Colon in 2018, and he’s currently the oldest player in Major League Baseball, besting 42-year-old Justin Verlander. Hill has also tied a record for playing for the most teams in MLB history; the Royals are his 14th franchise.

The Royals acquired the middle-aged southpaw in an offseason trade, and Hill has been pitching at Triple-A Omaha. There, he had a 4-4 record with an era of 5.36 in nine starts.

Although Hill has bounced around several clubs as he’s gotten older, he’s had a fascinating career, including 11 postseason starts with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He made two World Series appearances in 2017 and one the next year.

Before Tuesday night’s game, Hill has an MLB record of 90-74 over 386 games in 21 seasons. He has recorded 1,428 strikeouts in 1,409 innings.

Related: Rockies vs. White Sox: 'The World Series for the Two Worst Teams'

This got me thinking about the records for oldest players in MLB history. The top four records come with a big asterisk.

The story of Satchel Paige pitching three innings at age 59 in 1965 is legendary; a one-game comeback 12 years after his regular career ended sounds like the closing scene to an inspirational movie. Nick Altrock pinch hit in one game in 1933; he was 57.

Minnie Miñoso was less than two months from his 55th birthday when he pinch hit for the Chicago White Sox in 1980. Finally, Charley O’Leary played one game as a shortstop in 1934 and became the oldest player to get a hit and a run at age 51.

The asterisk behind these four names? They all played in single games as promotional stunts long after their regular careers had ended. But some impressive men played into their late 40s and early 50s in long careers.

In 1933, Jack Quinn pitched as a 50-year-old reliever, and Hoyt Wilhelm achieved the same feat in 1972. Both men had turned 50 six days before their final appearances. I still remember when Julio Franco pinch hit for the Atlanta Braves in 2007 at age 49. Five years later, pitcher Jamie Moyer won a game and scored an RBI with the Colorado Rockies as a 49-year-old.

Moyer holds the record among left-handed starting pitchers as well, but if Hill can hold on for five more seasons, he can break it! Don’t give up on your dreams, kids. You, too, can become a pitcher throwing to guys young enough to be your son.

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