When you think of a baseball family, who do you think of first? The Griffeys or the Ripkens? I quite frankly never think of the Ripken family. Griffey Jr and Sr. always come to mind first, because they were the first father and son to play on the same team as teammates. They even hit back-to-back singles and back-to-back home runs! Can the Ripkens claim that? No. They cannot.
The Griffey family is the best baseball family. One could make an argument for the Hairstons. They have five MLB players. What do you think? Who is the best baseball family?
Beckett ran a poll asking people to pick the top baseball family. They included:
- Ken Griffey Sr, Ken Griffey Jr
- Cal Ripken, Cal Ripken Jr, Billy Ripken
- Joe DiMaggio, Dom DiMaggio
- Sandy Alomar, Sandy Alomar Jr, Roberto Alomar
- Bobby Bonds, Barry Bonds, Bobby Bonds Jr
- Lloyd Waner, Paul Waner
- Tony Gwynn, Tony Gwynn Jr
- George Sisler, Dave Sisler, Dick Sisler
- Ray Boone, Bob Boone, Bret Boone, Aaron Boone (Bret Boone is the first-ever third-generation MLB player in baseball history)
- Felipe Alou, Jesus Alou, Matty Alou, Moises Alou
Some notable families missing from Beckett’s poll:
- Sammy Hairston, Jerry Hairston, Sr., Johnny Hairston, Jerry Hairston, Jr., David Hairston (the biggest baseball family with five)
- Cecil Fielder and Prince Fielder (the only father-son combination to both hit 50+ home runs in a season)
- Tim Raines and Tim Raines, Jr. (the second father/son duo to play as teammates)
- Shawon Dunston, Shawon Dunston Jr (Shawon Sr is one of my favorite baseball players)
- Gus Bell, Buddy Bell, David Bell, Mike Bell (baseball family of four)
There have been 203 father/son pairings in baseball. Wow.
Which is your favorite baseball family?