Talking Points: Ibanez having season for the aged

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OK, so we might not have long to enjoy watching him, but the Mariners’ Raul Ibañez has been fun to follow this season. With two homers Friday, the 41-year-old has 24 this season, ranking among the American League leaders.

Ibañez didn’t become a regular in the major leagues until he was 29. But with perseverance and steady improvement, he now has more than 400 career doubles, nearly 300 homers, and more than 1,000 runs and 1,000 RBI.

The record for home runs by a player in his 41-year-old season is 29 by Ted Williams in 1960, the legend’s final year. The record for RBI by such an aged player is 91 by Cap Anson in 1893. Ibañez is on pace to top both those marks.

Of course, he’ll probably be traded to a contender that will use him sparingly, but that’s OK. Ibañez has earned the opportunity to play for a winner with a shockingly good first half of the season.

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Former NBA All-Star Baron Davis recently appeared on a radio show and talked about once being abducted by aliens while driving from Las Vegas to Los Angeles. The episode ended with Davis eating burgers at an In ‘N Out and wondering what just happened to him.

Talking Points finds it hard to believe that Baron Davis ever was abducted by aliens. Metta World Peace? Maybe. Dennis Rodman? Certainly. But not Baron Davis.

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In the wake of the much-tweeted-about cinematic masterpiece that was “Sharknado” on the Syfy network, the official ESPN Twitter feed sent a message to the San Jose Sharks: “Hey”Hey@espn, thoughts on showing more hockey highlights?”

We think the Sharks took a bite out of the Worldwide Leader in Sports.