Happy 35th Birthday, Tim Lincecum!

It’s the 35th birthday of Timothy LeRoy Lincecum, the de facto ace of the Giants staff during their championship era. Others have come and gone, Matt Cain pitched a perfect game, and Madison Bumgarner became a baseball legend in 2014, but Tim Lincecum was unique: he was the only ace who equaled the industry’s results of an ace but with the personality and energy that could only work in San Francisco.

He last pitched for the Giants four years ago, but for those of us who watched him when he was that ace, we’ll never forget what he did. He’s out of baseball now, successful and secure and with an entire life ahead of him. What’s a millionaire 35-year old to do when anything’s possible? We can only hope that the answer is some variation of “be the best version of himself”.

Whatever’s next for him probably won’t be a public thing or maybe it’s already under way. No matter what the case, Happy Birthday, you Freak. You old such and such. You’re in your mid-thirties and you’ve already accomplished a successful major league baseball career, and you’ve given a bunch of strangers some very happy memories for the rest of our lives.