According to this story about smiles on Shine, a study of old baseball player photos showed a correlation between a big grin and longevity:

People with big grins live longer. In a study published last year, researchers pored over an old issue of the Baseball Register, analyzing photos of 230 players. They found that on average, the guys with bright, bigmouthed beams lived 4.9 years longer than the players with partial smiles, and 7 years longer than the players who showed no grin at all. We can’t credit wide smiles for long life spans, of course, but smiles reveal positive feelings, and positive feelings are linked to well-being.

It’s funny how just reading “players who showed no grin at all” brings to mind so many team photos of guys who are simply too tough to smile. I wonder if the lesson here isn’t really, “taking yourself too damn seriously shortens your life.” It would certainly lead to more aggressive driving, bar brawls, and other macho nonsense.

But, of course, there’s one dude on the current team who is always sporting a big smile, and is therefore on the fast track to longevity. Don’t give away *everything* in your Twitter contests, B-Phil; you may need to support yourself for a long time yet.