Just The Two of Us! Well Sometimes Three!

Back in the early ’60s, the Dodgers had brothers on the team at the same time. Larry Sherry was a star reliever and World Series, 1959, MVP. His brother Norm was Roseboro’s light-hitting backup when Pignatano was not available. Norm had a good grasp of the game and later managed in the minors, and the Angels for a 147 game stretch in 77-78. Norm passed away earlier this year in March. He played parts of 4 seasons with LA and one with the Mets. He is most known for helping Sandy Koufax curb his wildness by suggesting in a spring B game that he did should not try to throw the ball so hard. Just play catch. The rest as they say is history.

In the history of baseball, there have been 432 sets of brothers play the game at the major league level. Some were good, some were great, and others sniffed the coffee and were gone. Paul and Lloyd Waner, both Hall of Famers, the DiMaggio boys, Joe, Dom, and Vince. The Alou’s, Matty, Felipe, and Jesus. Dizzy and Daffy Dean. The list just goes on.

The Dodgers had a trio of brothers back in the ’90s, Pedro, Ramon, and Jesus Martinez. Jesus was the only one not to make it to the show. Jesus was in the Dodger system from 92-97. He never rose above AAA. Unlike his brothers, he was a lefty. Jesus passed away in 2018 at the age of 44.

The Waner’s and George and Harry Wright are the only set of brothers who both are in the Hall. The Wrights’s other brother, Sam, is not in the hall. The Dodgers also had the Sax brothers on the roster together for a short time, Steve as we all know was a 2nd baseman, his brother Dave was a catcher. They have also had the other brother of two Padre Hall of Famers, Glen Hoffman, Trevor’s brother, and Chris Gwynn, Tony’s sibling. Ed Delahanty, another Hall of Famer, had four of his brothers play pro baseball. George Brett’s brother, Ken, pitched for the Dodgers at one time.

Usually one of the brothers is pretty good, sometimes they both are very productive players. There are several brother acts in the game right now at some level. The Bard’s, the Contreras brothers, the Cron’s, dArnaud’s, Gordon’s, Megill’s, Romine’s, Tyson and Joe Ross, Seager’s, Sheffield’s, Stassi’s, and the Wongs. Joey and Alex Cora are also still in the game, one coaching, and Alex is managing the Red Sox.

The Molina brothers are a rarity as all three played catcher at the major league level. Yadier is entering his final year with the Cardinals. His brothers and he never played on the same MLB team at the same time, but in this photo, they are celebrating the Cardinals World Series win.

The list of brothers who have a brother in the hall is pretty impressive. Dave and Dick Sisler played in the ’50s and ’60s, Dick was an outfielder, and Dave was a pitcher. Neither is in the Hall, but their dad, George Sisler is. Hank Aaron is a HOF player, his brother Tom had a couple of short stints with the Braves.

Last names of players who are in the Hall, but their brother is not, Alomar, Clarke, Clarkson, Connor, Coveleski, Dean, Delahanty, Dickey, DiMaggio, Evers, Ewing, Ferrell, Glavine, Guererro, Gwynn, Hoffman, Kell, Larkin, Maddux, Manush, Martinez, Mathewson, Murray, Niekro, O’Rourke, Perry, Ripken, W.Robinson, Sewell, Torre, Wagner, Wheat (I did not even know Zack had a brother who played), White, and Yount.

Other Dodgers who had brothers in the league while they were with the team, Dick Allen, Bob Aspromonte, Willy Aybar, Jim Baxes, Juan Bell, Ken Boyer, Ken Brett, Tony Brewer, Jolbert Cabrera, Pete Coscarart, J D Drew, Wilton Guererro, Jerry Hairston Jr., Andy High, Brian Holman, Cesar Izturis, Andy LaRoche, Mike Maddux, Ramon Martinez, Ron Roenicke, Vincente Romo, Jose Valentine, Dixie Walker Jr., Jeff Weaver, Todd Worrell.

Robins pitcher, Jeff Pfeiffer had an older brother who pitched in the majors, his name was also Jeff, but they called him Big Jeff. I also did not know that Dixie Walker’s dad, Ewart, was a major league pitcher and was also nicknamed Dixie. Which I found confusing since he was born in Pennsylvania. Dixie, the Dodger outfielder, was born in Georgia, so his nickname made sense. Another thing I learned about Walker was that in the early ’30s, he was thought to be the heir apparent to Babe Ruth. But he did not reach his potential in New York, spent a couple of years with both the Tigers and White Sox before he landed in Brooklyn at the age of 29 in a waiver claim.

Dixie became the Peoples Cheerce in Brooklyn where he played until 1948. He was traded to Pittsburgh after he supposedly led the group of players who petitioned to keep Jackie Robinson off of the team. There is also one very obscure pair of brothers who both pitched for the Dodgers, but not at the same time. Chris Can Cuyk pitched from 50-52, going 7-11. His brother Johnny pitched from 47-49 with no decisions in 7 games. I actually have a 52 Van Cuyk card.

Well there you have it, the brother acts. Hope you enjoy the trip down memory lane. This pic is for you DC.