[1] He played as a pitcher for five different franchises in Major League Baseball (MLB) in a career that spanned twenty years.

Vance said he was suddenly able to throw hard again in 1921 while pitching for the New Orleans Pelicans of the Southern Association: he struck out 163 batters and finished the season with a 21–11 win–loss record.

[6] The Robins wanted to acquire catcher Hank DeBerry, but the Pelicans refused to complete the deal unless Vance was included in the transaction.

[9] He finished the season with 262 strikeouts, more than any two National League pitchers combined (Burleigh Grimes with 135 and Dolf Luque with 86 were second and third respectively).

With Vance on second and Chick Fewster on first, Babe Herman hit a long ball and began racing around the bases.

[10] Vance's play began to decline in the early 1930s and he bounced to the St. Louis Cardinals (becoming a member of the team known as the Gashouse Gang), Cincinnati Reds and back to the Dodgers.

On September 12, 1934, Vance hit his seventh and final major league home run at 43 years and 6 months, the second oldest pitcher to do so to this day.

Vance pointed out that very few people could make a good living out of it, especially during a time when increasing major league salaries were attracting many college-educated men who would have previously chosen other work.

Vance retired with a 197–140 record, 2,045 strikeouts and a 3.24 ERA — remarkable numbers considering he saw only 33 innings of big league play during his twenties.

Biographer John Skipper characterized his Hall of Fame induction as "subdued" compared to the celebration in Brooklyn.