Illinois’ economy is in shambles. Funding for higher education is in question at best and legislators still can’t find a solution.

However, it seems Major League Baseball has placed the perfect answer to this equation square at our feet.

With the recession still affecting major sports franchises and baseball’s continued transition to a younger man’s game, there is a slew of very talented, very capable – even if slightly older – baseball players currently jobless.

Thus, I submit Illinois create its own expansion team: The Springfield Oldies. Or the Galesburg Geriatrics. Or the Rockford Rock-Bottoms.

Ultimately, the name doesn’t really matter.

The point is, now more than ever, there are enough unemployed veteran ballplayers that one could easily “MacGyver” up an expansion team.

Think about it.

Braden Looper, John Smoltz, Livan Hernandez, Pedro Martinez; right there is 4/5 of your rotation, all of them currently unemployed, all still very capable.

Outfielder Jermaine Dye hit 27 home runs last year and he can’t find a team, so let’s put him in a corner spot in Springfield.

Carlos Delgado still swings a big stick and he, as well, is sitting on the couch, watching baseball instead of playing it.

Let’s face it, these aren’t just geezers who are clinging to some faint hint of glory. Most are still extremely capable gamers.

The fact is the current economy has driven America’s pastime to a game dominated by younger and younger players.

Perhaps these older players are victims of their own success. After all, the better they played, the larger a sum they demanded. And as the economy began to buckle, teams began to realize, say, a Jason Heyward, who may hit fewer homers this year and may not get on base as regularly in his rookie season, is a safer gamble at one-tenth the cost of, say, a Gary Sheffield.

Oh! There’s another senior to add to our new team!

The question one must truly ask is how far will this age regression in baseball go?

While right now it is the 35- and 36-year-old player struggling to find work, will it soon be the 30- and 31-year-old who is sitting above the dugout as opposed to in it?

Will we soon see teams populated by nothing but teens and early twenty-somethings?

Let’s not forget there was a time when seeing someone younger than 24 in MLB was a great rarity. Now, it would seem, seeing someone older than 35 is like finding a diamond in your Cracker Jack box.

However, wily veterans still have a place. After all, Jamie Moyer, who turns 45 this year, is still hurling in Philadelphia.

Whatever the trend and how far it goes, the fact still remains we may soon see baseball players who have careers closer in length to football players and, sadly, this may mean records may stand much longer. Those who could become some of the true greats may not even get the chance because the paycheck they demand will instead be replaced with a pink slip, only to see a 19-year-old replace them on the diamond.

But baseball’s loss could still be our gain, Illinois! Let us sign Darin Erstad, Jason Isringhausen and Mike Hampton! Let’s go coax Rocco Baldelli out of retirement! Let’s even go so far as to see if Kenny Lofton still wants to lace up the cleats!

Either way, these older players can still play and if we pay them, they will come!

David Thill can be reached at 581-7944 or [email protected]