# The 16 Longest Careers in Professional Sports

> Most professionals get ten good years. These ones kept turning up long after their peers took desk jobs.

*By YPB Team · Published August 26, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/the-16-longest-careers-in-professional-sports*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Gordie Howe** — score 1000/1000
   Played in five different decades and skated in the NHL at 52.
2. **Gary Player** — score 600/1000
   Fifty-two Masters appearances, the last of them at 73.
3. **Nolan Ryan** — score 551/1000
   Twenty-seven MLB seasons and a no-hitter at 44.
4. **Jaromir Jagr** — score 494/1000
   Still playing professional hockey in Czechia more than thirty-five years after his first season.
5. **Tom Brady** — score 428/1000
   Twenty-three NFL seasons and a Super Bowl win at 43.
6. **The Undertaker** — score 428/1000
   Thirty years to the day between his WWE debut and his retirement, both at Survivor Series.
7. **Julio Franco** — score 428/1000
   Played top-level baseball into his late forties across four countries.
8. **Vince Carter** — score 350/1000
   Twenty-two NBA seasons, more than any other player.
9. **Martina Navratilova** — score 350/1000
   Turned professional in 1975 and played her last doubles match in 2006.
10. **Jack Nicklaus** — score 350/1000
   Won majors across three decades and kept teeing off at Augusta for forty-five years.
11. **Adam Vinatieri** — score 350/1000
   Twenty-four NFL seasons kicking field goals into his mid-forties.
12. **Ian Botham** — score 257/1000
   A first-class career spanning more than two decades of English cricket.
13. **Kazuyoshi Miura** — score 143/1000
   Still a registered professional footballer decades after his 1986 debut in Brazil.
14. **Ric Flair** — score 143/1000
   Wrestled across five decades and kept coming back after each retirement.
15. **George Foreman** — score 143/1000
   Ten years out of boxing, then a comeback that ended with a title at 45.
16. **Gianluigi Buffon** — score 143/1000
   Kept goal professionally from 1995 until 2023.

Tags: sports, athletes, all-time, longevity