If you want to become a pro athlete, you might want to interest a sibling (or five)
Many young kids grow up enthralled with sports and hoping one day to become a professional athlete. As we all know, the odds against realizing that elusive dream are colossal.
Indeed, out of every 10,000 high school senior baseball players roughly 50 will be ultimately drafted by a Major League Baseball team, of which only about 10% (or 5!) will make a major league roster. For the NHL the number of high school seniors playing hockey who are drafted is about 40 out of 10,000; for the NFL only about 8 in 10,000 and for the NBA a mere 3 in 10,000! Needless to say, like being a movie star, an astronaut or a lottery winner, this dream is only for the most talented, determined or lucky (and undoubtedly all three).
So, imagine the odds of having not just one but two children from the same family make it to “the Bigs.” That would seem virtually impossible. And yet, having a sibling who is an elite athlete seems to improve the odds a bit. Perhaps it’s because having an older sibling growing up who is bigger, stronger and faster who carts you to games with his older friends helps prepare you for competition against other top athletes – which is why the best of sibling athletes is rarely the oldest. There is also undoubtedly a genetic component to being an elite athlete.
In any case, I have found at least 416 sets of brothers who have played in Major League Baseball. Moreover, there have been at least twelve families that have had three children realize this lofty aspiration and even one couple – Irish immigrants Mike and Mary O’Neill – who raised four sons who cracked the major leagues in the early 1900’s (undoubtedly motivated by the desire to avoid the alternative at the time in the new President’s birthplace of Scranton, Pa – working in the coal mines).
Some of the more memorable trios of siblings who have made a career in major league baseball include the following:
In the 1950’s there were the Dimaggios. Most have heard of Joltin’ Joe – one of the greatest baseball players of all time. Even if you don’t follow baseball, there was the Marilyn Monroe connection and Simon and Garfunkel’s “Mrs. Robinson” to educate you. But Joe’s lesser known brothers Vince and Dom – that’s some real Italian going on there – were also fine ballplayers who played in the majors. Indeed, they actually had more hits collectively than Joe, though neither were Hall of Famers. The threesome combined for 4853 hits, 573 home runs and 2739 RBI’s. And these impressive totals would have been considerably higher had they not each interrupted their professional baseball careers for two peak years to serve in the military.
In the 1960’s and 1970’s there were the Alou brothers – Felipe, Matty and Jesus. Felipe was actually the first Dominican to play regularly for an MLB team. Today the Dominican Republic has the greatest baseball players in the world. Despite being the size of North Carolina with a population of only 10 Million it currently provides approximately 85 players to the big leagues, more than any other country outside the U.S. (and eight times as many players per capita as the U.S.). Although none of the Alou’s are in the Hall of Fame, the threesome accumulated 5304 hits in the aggregate – the most of any sibling trio in history and more hits than all-time hits leader Pete Rose (who also, rather incredibly, is not in the Hall of Fame).
If the likelihood of three brothers from a tiny country each becoming a professional ballplayer in the US was not enough of a long shot, all three played briefly for the same team – the San Francisco Giants. Moreover, they even played at the same time occupying all three outfield positions for a few games – the only siblings in MLB history who can say that.
More recently, there are/were the miraculous Molina brothers. Benjamin (“Benjie), Jose’ Benjamin and Yadi Benjamin were raised by a baseball obsessed father with limited means in Puerto Rico. Benjamin Sr. worked all day in a factory and rushed home each afternoon to teach his three boys (and anyone else in the tiny town of Vega Alta) the game he loved on a sandlot/dirt field he constructed across from his home.
And somehow he managed to mentor all three of his “Benjamins” to the elite level necessary to play in the major leagues and earn more Benjamins that he could have ever possibly contemplated (Yadi’s career earnings alone to date top $144 Million.) His achievement ranks right up there with Richard Williams ‘ implausible accomplishment with daughters Venus and Serena – except he did it with three kids. Even more astounding, all three made it to “the Show” at baseball’s most challenging position: catcher.
At age 38 and despite 17 seasons of catching more games than any other backstop during this span, the youngest brother Yadi is still looking to play for at least a couple more seasons. The Molina boys have combined (thus far) for nearly 4,000 hits. Most impressively they have each won not just one, but two World Series rings!
Then there is the NFL which has had over 377 sets of brothers who have played in the the league or the former AFL, including a handful of sibling trios. The current threesome crop includes the Edwards’ brothers (Trey, Terrell and Tremaine) and the Watts’ brothers ( JJ, TJ and “my other brother” Derek – the Watts apparently didn’t like DJ for some reason). All three Edwards’ brothers played in the same game (albeit for different teams) in December 2019 and all Watts’ brothers did the same thing in September 2020 – marking the first times that had happened since 1927. Family Gronkowski trumps them with four sons having been drafted and played in the NFL, albeit only Rob has been a star, and a fifth brother having been drafted by baseball’s Los Angeles Angels. Then again, the Matthew’s family has had seven NFL players among its generations- Grandfather Clay, sons Clay Jr and Bruce, and grandsons Clay III and Casey (from Clay Jr.) and Kevin and Jake (from Bruce).
In the NBA there have been at least 70 brother combos including several trio combinations. Indeed, there are currently two such anomalies – the Nigerian- born Antetokounmpo brothers with middle brother Giannis a two-time MVP of the league and the Holiday bros (Jrue, Justin and Aaron). The insufferable Jevon Ball thought he had three sons in the NBA but the Pistons recently stifled that, releasing the youngest, LiAngelo, before he played a game. Still the king of basketball siblings has to be the Jones’ family from the 1970’s and early 80’s. Siblings Cardwell, Charles, Major and Will Jones played at the same time in the NBA /ABA for a combined 37 seasons.
As for the NHL there are a whopping 22 different sets of brothers who currently play in the League and there have been several examples of three siblings over the years, including the Miller’s (Kevin, Kelly and Kip), the Broten’s (Neil, Aaron and Paul), the Plager’s (Barclay, Bobby and Billy – all of whom played for the St. Louis Blues at one time) and the Stastny’s (Peter, Anton and Marion with Peter’s son, Paul, also a long-time player). And four Stahl brothers have laced them up in the NHL – Eric, Marc, Jordan and Jared.
But by far the most impressive sibling achievement has to be the Sutter brothers. On a farm in frigid remote Viking, Alberta Canada, Louis and Grace Sutter raised seven boys, an astounding SIX of whom would go on to play in the NHL: Brian, Duane, Darryl, Brent, and (TWINS) Rich and Ron. (The 7th and oldest boy was purportedly offered an opportunity to play but stayed home to help run the family farm). Four of the six went on to become NHL coaches and general managers. Six more of their progeny from the next generation were drafted, although only a couple of them have actually played in the NHL. The Sutters easily win the title for best sports family in history.
