Sosa, Piazza, Thomas and Bagwell in steep decline

	Sammy Sosa remains unsigned after batting .221 with 14 home runs for the Orioles in 2005. Al Tielemans/SI
	Long in the Tooth Active career HR leaders: Rk. Player Age HR 1. Barry Bonds 41 708 2. Sammy Sosa 37 588 3. Rafael Palmeiro 41 569 4. Ken Griffey 36 536 5. Jeff Bagwell 37 449 5. Gary Sheffield 37 449 7. Frank Thomas 37 448 8. Manny Ramirez 33 435 9. Juan Gonzalez 36 434 10. Jim Thome 35 430 11. Alex Rodriguez 30 429 12. Mike Piazza 37 397
	POLL Which of these sluggers had the best career? Jeff Bagwell Mike Piazza Sammy Sosa Frank Thomas  View Results

They were born in the Year of the Pitcher but to the Era of Offense. The year 1968 happened to be a very good time to be born for those who would make a living with a bat in their hands. The pitching was too good in 1968, the owners decided, so after that season they voted to cut the height of the mound from 15 inches to 10 inches.

Simultaneously, four teams were added to the existing 20 as well as another round of postseason play. The course was set. Baseball would never alter from its strategy to grow the game through offense, expansion and a greater inventory of postseason games.

Among those born to this new baseball world in 1968 were Mike Piazza, Frank Thomas, Sammy Sosa and Jeff Bagwell. By 1998, when they turned 30, baseball had created the antithetical environment to '68. It was the Year of the Hitter, though no owner watching his turnstiles spin dared complain. Piazza, Thomas, Sosa and Bagwell combined to belt 152 home runs that year -- collectively outhomering every team in baseball in 1968 except the world champion Tigers. They each ranked among the 20 highest-paid players in the game.

We kept hearing then that ballplayers were bigger, stronger and better conditioned than ever before. Given the advances in nutritional and training information and the finances to enjoy an easier, more luxurious lifestyle, players would extend their prime late into their 30s.

That Class of '68 is worth remembering now because of what has happened to them this winter: a market flush with cash all but ignored them, the signal that they have not aged as well as had been thought. All, by varying degree, have been breaking down physically and offer no signs they can come close to being elite players again.

Piazza signed a cut-rate $2 million contract with San Diego. Thomas took a deal with Oakland that guarantees him $500,000 (plus incentives if he can stay on the field). Sosa may get a similar bargain deal, or worse, with the MLB-owned Washington Nationals, largely because commissioner Bud Selig has had a strong relationship with Sosa and wants to get this erstwhile ambassador of the sport off the street, hat in hand. Bagwell has another year left on his contract with Houston, but the Astros want him declared unfit to play because of his worn right shoulder so they can collect $15.2 million from an insurance company to cover most of what they owe him.

Look around baseball and it's the end of an era. Throw in fellow '68ers Roberto Alomar, whose body gave out years ago, and Bernie Williams, no longer an everyday player. Who would have guessed back in 1998 that the hitters from the Class of '68 who would age the best would be Jeff Kent and Gary Sheffield?

I also began to think about Juan Gonzalez (born in 1969), who hit 397 home runs through age 31 but only 37 in the past four years, and is staring at the possibility of being out of baseball at 36. Mark McGwire was done at 37. Jose Canseco was done at 37.