Baseball Fathers and Sons: Part I

The great thing about collecting baseball cards is that you can choose to collect the cards that interest you and there are infinite choices.  You can select your favorite team, favorite player, favorite year or set.  About ten years ago, I got the idea of collecting a card of each father and son combination in baseball history.  It is a great way to collect as the collection continues to grows with each season as another son makes his major league debut.  I have been able to collect about 140 different sets of fathers and sons.

Some maybe be familiar to baseballs fans, as they include Hall of Fame members:

Roberto Alomar, son of Sandy Alomar, 
Earl Averill, and his son, Earl Jr.,

Yogi Berra, father to Dale,

Eddie Collins, father to Eddie Jr.,

Tony Gwynn, and his son Tony Jr.,

Connie Mack, (not necessarily voted into the Hall of Fame for his exploits as a player although he did appear in 723 games with a .245 batting average), and his son Earle, and

George Sisler, and his sons, Dave and Dick.

Roberto Alomar is currently the only son who is a member of the Hall of Fame, but that will be changing, possibly as earlier as the Induction Ceremony on July 24, 2016.

Pairs that maybe be more identifiable to baseball fans are the Griffeys, Ken and his son Ken Jr., who is on the Hall of Fame ballot for 2016, and the Bonds, Bobby and his son, the All-Time Home Run leader, Barry, who has yet to get the call from the Hall of Fame. 

Did you know that Peter Rose's son, Pete Rose Jr., played for the Reds during 1997? 

Pete Junior recorded two career hits.  His first hit was a single in his major league debut on September 1 during the Reds 7-4 loss to the Royals.  While playing 3rd base, on his second career at bat in the 4th inning, Pete singled off Royals starter Kevin Appier.  Pete's second career hit come on September 5 during Reds 8-6 victory over the Pirates.  As a pinch hitter, in the 6th inning, Pete singled to right field off Pirate starter Jason Schmidt, lifting his batting average to .400.  

Pete finished the year with the Reds, his only season in the major leagues, ending with a lifetime batting average of .143.

 

Then there are some not so familiar names.

Consider Charlie Beamon and his son, Charlie, Jr.  These are the only cards that I could find for each Beamon.

 

 

Charlie Senior (his name appears to be misspelled on his Topps 1959 card), pitched in the major leagues for the Baltimore Orioles from 1956 through 1958.  As a 21 year-old, he made his major league debut on September 26, 1956, pitching a 4-hit shutout against the Yankees, winning 4-0.  Four days later, on September 30, Charlie pitched 4 innings in relief of starter Don Ferrarese, gaining his second victory of the season in the Orioles 6-3 win over the Senators.  In the top of the 9th inning, Charlie's ground out against Senator starting pitcher, Ted Abernathy, which scored left fielder Tex Nelson for the Orioles final run, thus recording the only run batted in of his career.   This was the second game of a doubleheader, and the final game of the 1956 regular season. These were Charlie's only two appearances during the 1956 season.

 

Charlie returned to the Orioles in 1957 and pitched in four games with no decisions.  During his final season, in 1958, he appeared in 21 games finishing the year with one win and three losses.  His final victory came in the Orioles August 21 7-6 win over the Tigers. The Orioles took the lead on Gus Triandos' 7th inning two-run homer, pegging the loss on Tigers reliever George Susce.

 

Charlie's final career appearance come on September 21 when he pitched six innings in the Orioles 13-2 loss to the Tigers.  He finished his career appearing in 27 games, with 3 wins and 3 losses, and one complete game, the 1956 shutout against the Yankees.

 

Charlie attended McClymonds High School in Oakland, the same school that outfielders Curt Flood, Vada Pinson, and Frank Robinson attended as did Hall of Fame catcher Ernie Lombardi.

 

Charlie Junior, made his major league debut on September 11, 1978 for the Mariners.  Charlie's appearance in the game was as a pinch hitter leading off the top of the 9th inning as he grounded out.  During the 1978 season, Charlie appeared in 10 games, and he got his first major league hit on October 1 during the Mariners 9-4 loss to the Rangers.  The hit came in the second inning off Hall of Fame pitcher Ferguson Jenkins.  Later in the same game, during the 6th inning, Charlie got his second hit of the game, another single off of Jenkins.  He finished the season with 2 hits in 11 at bats and a .182 batting average.

 

In the 1979 season, Charlie returned to the Mariners.  He appeared in 27 games, and batted .200 (5 hits in 25 at bats).  Charlie's first career extra base hit came on July 1 in County Stadium against the Brewers.  Leading off the 4th inning, against Brewer starting pitcher Jim Slaton, he doubled to right field.

 

Charlie returned to the major leagues in 1981 for his final season, playing with the Blue Jays.  On September 9, in his Blue Jay debut, playing against the Twins, Charlie had his second two-hit game of his career.  He also recorded his second career double, the final extra base hit of his career, during the second inning, off of Twins starter Fernando Arroyo.  Charlie's last major league game was on September 22, 1981 and he finished the 1981 season appearing in 8 games, batting .200 with 3 hits in 15 at bats.

 

For his career, Charlie Junior appeared in 45 games, batting .196 with ten hits in 51 at bats. He scored 8 runs but did not have any runs batted in.  Charlie Senior ended his career with more RBI (one) than his son (none).