Tom Brennan
METS PLAYERS WITH BASEBALL FAMILY MEMBERS
Baseball has long had guys with other family members who
also played in pro baseball.
One of the most memorable was when 3 fine major leaguers,
Moises Alou, Matty Alou and Jesus Alou, all played in the same outfield once
for the Giants. Moises eventually became
a Met for a short while.
Tommy Aaron, best known for having a brother named Hank, who
you may have heard of.
The great Bobby Bonds of the Giants, eclipsed by his
all-time-homer-king son Barry.
Delino deShields, Eric Young, Call Ripken, and many others.
In Metsville:
We all know that Gregory
Guerrero (yet to play this year in the minors) is related to the great Vladimir
Guerrero and also related to the soon-to-perhaps-be-even-greater prodigy named Vladimir
Guerrero, Jr.
At Burger King, where I wish I was currently, they now call him Whopper Jr.
At Burger King, where I wish I was currently, they now call him Whopper Jr.
Who else is making baseball a family affair in Metsville?
Ailing Travis d’Arnaud’s
brother Chase is back in AAA, chasing his big league dream as a now-31 year old. Chase, originally a 4th round pick
of the Pirates, seems a bit short in the stick, unfortunate for a guy with
ample speed (263 career steals, caught just 64 times), but he was good enough
to play 194 major league games and hit .223.
Zach Wheeler’s
brother Adam was drafted in the 13th round by the Yankees and made
it to A ball before his career ended in 2004, with a career minors tally of 4
wins, 5 losses, and a 2.77 ERA. Another
brother, Jacob, had a heart issue that kept him out of sports after high
school, but who is currently pursuing an art career.
Jeff McNeil, whom
I write about often and who is now healthy again at age 26 and clearly looking to make
up for losing almost 2 years of time to serious injuries, is 35 games in on
this AA season, and an impressive, even perhaps stunning .328 with 12 homers and 13 other extra base hits.
What a duo he and teammate Peter Alonso make.
What a duo he and teammate Peter Alonso make.
Jeff's brother Ryan McNeil, a 3rd round righty drafted by the
Cubs in 2012, is slightly bigger than Jeff and currently in AA, struggling with
control issues. In his career, he has
fanned a man per inning and is 6-12, 3.47 ERA.
He saved 22 of 24 in A ball last year.
Of course, in the past, we had Mookie Wilson and Preston Wilson, Mookie's nephew. Preston had 141 RBIs one year with the Rockies, more RBIs in a season than any Met ever.
Lee Mazzilli and son LJ Mazzilli - don't remind me about the latter, though.
Of course, in the past, we had Mookie Wilson and Preston Wilson, Mookie's nephew. Preston had 141 RBIs one year with the Rockies, more RBIs in a season than any Met ever.
Lee Mazzilli and son LJ Mazzilli - don't remind me about the latter, though.
Can you think of any others you’d care to reminisce about?
Digressing a bit, I remember non-Mets Jim Bibby (career 111-101), whose son Henry Bibby
was a fine NBA player, but that is crossing sports.
Does Peter Alonso
have a brother we can draft?
Mets had Jesus Alou and his nephew Moises Alou. Moises father was Felipe and his other brother was a pretty fair ballplayer named Matty.
ReplyDeleteOh, and Gary Sheffield's uncle was Doc someone or other...
ReplyDeleteTwo good ones, Reese.
ReplyDeleteI did not remember our having Jesus Alou - didn't he almost choke after colliding with someone?
1975 during the dark(er) days of the franchise Alou had over 100 ABs for the Mets but didn't do much -- .265/0/11
ReplyDeleteHenry Bibby was Jim's brother, not his son. Jim came up in the Mets organization, but got traded to the Cardinals in the early '70s without ever playing for the Mets.
ReplyDeleteDid a quick run down the All-Time Mets roster. These are the ones that popped out at me. Not at all definitive: The Mets had all three Alomars, Sandy, Robbie and Sandy Jr.; There was Todd Hundley, son of MLB catcher Randy; Bob Aspromonte, brother of Astros' Ken; Dale's pop, Yogi; Ken Boyer of the three Boyer brothers (along with Clete and Cloyd); Ike Davis, son of Yanks pitcher Ron; Wayne Garrett's brother, Adrian, was a Braves prospect (not sure if he made the bigs), then played in Japan; Tom and Mike Glavine were the first set of brothers to play for the Mets at the same time; El Duque was the helf-brother of another Met, Livan Hernandez; Mets pitcher Bobby Klaus was the brother of infielder Billy; Gary Matthews, Jr. was, of course, the son of the more famous Gary Matthews; Pedro was the brother of Ramon Martinez, but not the Ramon Martinez who played for the Mets (an infielder); Darren Oliver was the son of Pirates 1B-man Bob Oliver; Tom Paciorek had two MLB player brothers, though one played only one game; Mel Rojas was the nephew of the Alou brothers and the cousin of Moises; 1B-man David Segui was the son of pitcher Diego Segui; Norm Sherry was a teammate of his brother Larry with the Dodgers; ex-Met Ken Singleton is Chris's father; Del Unser was the son of catcher Al Unser; and Neil Walker was the son of MLB pitcher Tom.
ReplyDeleteDave, wow, nice job!
ReplyDeleteI think I deliberately blocked out Gary Matthews Jr!
And I had no idea that another very forgettable Met, Mel Rojas, was related to the Alous.
Thanks Tom,
ReplyDeleteYour mention of deliberately blocking out the very forgettable Gary Matthews, Jr. brings to mind another very forgettable Jr. I must have deliberately blocked out: John Mayberry, Jr. 'Nuff said (or maybe too much).