Baseball's Best Brother Combos

Baseball is one of those activities that breeds sibling rivalry. Or maybe it's sibling rivalry itself that leads to competitive activities like baseball. Being one of five brothers, this writer can confirm that there is nothing nastier, meaner, tougher and well, more brotherly, than playing against one's siblings in a game of baseball.

Whether it's in the backyard with a sawed-off broomstick and a pair of rolled up socks, or in front of a packed grandstand at a State High School Championship game, the National Pastime can certainly bring out the best in boys. But no sibling rivalry could possibly outdo playing baseball together in the Major Leagues.

More than 350 brother combinations have played in the Major Leagues, from Harry and George Wright in 1871 to Chris and Shelley Duncan in 2007. But perhaps none were as accomplished, as effective, as famous, or as memorable as the following sets of baseball brothers.

Joe, Dom and Vince DiMaggio

Joltin' Joe Dimaggio's career has been well-documented: three MVP awards, nine World Series rings, a 56-game hitting streak, 361 home runs and just 369 strikeouts, the marriage to Marilyn Monroe. Joltin' Joe did it all and he had it all. Ted Williams called him the greatest all-around player he ever saw. That's high praise indeed.

But his two brothers weren't exactly slouches. Dominic was a seven-time All-Star who played centerfield for the Boston Red Sox from 1940 through 1953. He hit better than .300 five times in his career, finished with a .298 average, and like his big brother, he rarely struck out. Perhaps the following quote that Joe made about Dominic summed up their competitive relationship.

"I came up twice in the game with the bases loaded and both times I hit balls into the alley, four-hundred and fifty feet away. Home runs in any other park. Well, each time my own brother robbed me by making catches on the warning track. Instead of a possible eight RBI, or at least five or six, I got nothing. That night, Dom came over to my place for dinner. I remember letting him in the door and then not speaking to him until we were almost done eating. I was that mad."

Vince DiMaggio, who was the oldest of the three, also had a fine career. He made two All-Star teams and in 1941, while playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates, smacked 21 home runs and drove in 100 RBI.

Phil and Joe Niekro

These two knuckleball specialists won 539 combined games during careers that together spanned 46 seasons. Phil, the older brother, collected 318 victories and was inducted into to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997.

Joe, who was five years younger than his big brother, was also pretty good. A two-time 20-game winner who finished twice in the top 5 in Cy Young voting, Joe won 221 games during his career.

The two were actually teammates at two different points during their lengthy careers, with the Braves in 1973 and '74, and then again with the new York Yankees in 1985. They faced each other nine times, with Joe winning five games and Phil winning four. Joe also homered off his big brother in a 1976 game.

Gaylord and Jim Perry

The Perry brothers careers bear a remarkable similarity to the Neikro boys. Both sets of siblings used uncommon pitches (the Neikros both used the knuckleball, and at least one of the Perrys 'allegedly' used the spitball). Both pairs had careers that spanned from the early 1960s until the mid-1980s. And while the Niekros won 539 games between them, the Perry boys came pretty damn close, collecting a combined 529 victories during their careers.

In this case, the younger brother, Gaylord, was the ace of the family. He won two Cy Young awards (in 1972 and 1978), collected 314 victories and reached the Hallof Fame in 1991.

The Five Delahanty Brothers

The oldest of these five brothers is probably the greatest baseball player you never heard of. Edward James Delahanty played sixteen seasons for the Philadelphia Phillies and Washington Senators between the years of 1888 and 1903. He hit better than .400 in three seasons, and topped .350 an additional five times. He was also just the second player to hit four home runs in a single game.

During the 1890s, Delahanty, Billy Hamilton and Sam Thompson formed what may have been the greatest outfield in history. In 1894, all three hit better than .400.

But a fondness for drink and a fierce temper eventually led to Big Ed's death. On a hot July night in 1903, while traveling by train from New York to Detroit, a very drunk and disorderly Delahanty was kicked off the train by the conductor, and forced to leg it over the International Bridge that spans Niagara Falls.

Whether he slipped, jumped, or was pushed into the Falls is still disputed to this very day. One thing is certain: Ed Delahanty plunged to his death amidst the mighty roar of one of Nature's Great Wonders.

None of Ed's younger brothers achieved greatness on the field like Big Ed. Jim Delahanty played 13 seasons and hit .283 for his career. He was a teammate of Ty Cobb's on the 1909 pennant-winning Detroit Tigers. Joe, Frank and Tom all had respectable, albeit brief careers in the majors as well.

Paul and Lloyd Waner

The only pair of brothers ever inducted purely on the basis of their playing days (Harry and George Wright were inducted partially for their roles as pioneers of baseball), Paul and Lloyd Waner are the best tandem of brotherly batsmen in the game's history.

Paul collected 3,152 hits, one MVP award and batted .333 in his 20 year career. For fourteen of those seasons, his younger brother Lloyd played alongside him in the Pittsburgh Pirates outifeld, and finsihed his own remarkable career with a .316 average and 2,459 hits.

Paul was nicknamed "Big Poison" and Lloyd was called "Little Poison," by Dodgers fans who despised the pair for the way they always hit well against against their New York team. Some say that the fans were intending to say Big Person (for Paul, the older brother) and Little Person (for Lloyd the younger), but with their heavy New York accents, the word sounded more like poison.

Orlando and Livan Hernandez

The most recent of the sibling greats, the Hernandez brothers (actually, half brothers) are still both active in the major leagues. While both have enjoyed reputable careers during the regular season, their greatness has been displayed best during the postseason. As a rookie, Livan led the Florida Marlins to the world championship and took home the World Series MVP award. In 12 postseason games, Livan has a 7-3 record and an ERA of 3.79.

His older bother, Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez, is the flashier and perhaps more accomplished of the pair. After defecting from Havana on a raft in the spring of 1998, the former Cuban National Team ace lit up American baseball in his rookie season, going 12-4 with a 3.13 ERA for the New York Yankees. That October, he threw seven shutout innings in the Yankees World Series Game 2 victory over the San Diego Padres.

But that was just the start of his postseason brilliance. In 19 postseason games, Hernandez is 9-3 with a 2.55 earned run average.

There are so many more baseball brothers that deserve recognition. The aforementioned Wright brothers (not the pilots) were among the sport's first superstars.

Hank Aaron hit 755 home runs while his little brother Tommy hit just one.

The three Alous (Jesus, Felipe and Matty) played a total of 47 seasons in the big leagues. Today's bright young stars include the Uptons (B.J. and Justin) and the Drews (J.D. and Stephen).

It's nice to see that those backyard ballgames between brothers sometimes pay off big.

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