A Baseball Mulligan Stew
Twins, Morris, and more
By C. Philip Francis
There have been many Major League baseball families: Brothers such as the five Delahantys and three DiMaggios; fathers and sons with Yogi and Dale Berra and the two Bonds, Bobby and Barry; but have there been any twins who made it to the big leagues? Surprisingly seven sets of twins can be found in The Baseball Encyclopedia.
The best known baseball twins brothers are the identical Eddie and Johnny O’Brien who played together for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1950’s. The boys were born on December 11, 1930 in South Amboy, NJ, and majored in business at Seattle University before Branch Rickey signed them to bonus contracts to be the next Pittsburgh double-play combination. Johnny even starred in basketball at Seattle U. When the boys came up in 1953 the Bucs were a solid last place team, but the mischief-loving brothers did little to improve the team during their five years in the Steel City with missed signals and frequent errors while often stumbling around the basepaths on the rare times they found the way to first base.
Each threw and batted right-handed, and was the same in height and weight. Eddie had a lifetime batting average of .236, never hit a home run, and was usually at shortstop although he did move to the outfield on occasion. He also pitched in five games winning one and losing none. Johnny, the stronger of the two and the oldest by four minutes, hit a total of four homers, played at various infield positions, and pitched in 25 games winning one and losing three. As was his brother, Johnny was never considered a hitting machine retiring from the game with a batting average of .250.
Their managers and others including the Topps Card Company never knew who was who, and when one was called for some silly prank it was always “my brother” who did it. Topps solved their particular problem by putting both O’Briens on the same card. Collectors were never able to determine the correct brother, but then who could?
Following their baseball careers, the O’Briens went on to successful positions – Johnny as a county commissioner and head of security at the Kingdome Stadium in Seattle, and Eddie as an energy consultant to oil riggers in Alaska saying, “I’m not making errors anymore.”
Other big league twin brothers were: Jose and Ozzie Canseco who were born in Havana, Cuba in 1964; Bubber and Claude Jonnard who became a rare brother battery (pitcher/catcher) in the minors but never were together as MLers; Stan and Stewart Cliburn who were with the Angels in the 1980’s, but not at the same time; Mike and Marshall Edwards played in the 1970’s and ‘80’s, and also had a brother, Dave, who was in the big leagues; another identical set of twins, Joe and Red Shannon, who were with the Boston Braves in 1915; and Bill and George Hunter who appeared in a few games almost 100 years ago.
Going Hollywood?
Chatter from the Dugout readers should be familiar with Jim Morris who jumped from a Texas high school classroom to a professional baseball tryout after a bet with his students. The 6’3” left-handed reliever had been in the low minors almost twenty years ago, but four arm operations all but finished his career until the students changed his life.. Surprisingly, Morris survived the tryout, and was signed by a Tampa Bay Devil Ray scout. Arm problems, however, has kept Morris off the field much of the time.
Jim has since written a book, The Oldest Rookie, was sent to the Los Angeles Dodgers, and will soon see his unbelievable story on a movie screen starring Dennis Quaid as the Texan teacher turned ballplayer. His agent, Steve Canter, says of the 37-year-old pitcher, “He no longer looks like a schoolteacher throwing 98 miles an hour; now he looks like a Major League player throwing 98 miles an hour.”
Odds and Ends
---Cuban-born Minnie Minosa, the first black player to wear a Chicago White Sox uniform, is the only MLer to play in five decades. After Minnie debuted in 1949 with the Cleveland Indians where he appeared in nine games, then surfaced with the Chicago White Sox two years later. He homered at the first time up wearing a White Sox uniform, the same game in which Mickey Mantle hit the first of his 536 home runs. Minnie’s career continued through the mid-1960’s, then brought back by the Sox in 1976 for three games. He coached for Chicago the next two years before again returning as an active player in 1980 when sent to the plate twice as a pinch-hitter. He saw his fifth decade of baseball at the age of 57.
---Al Benton, whose 14-year pitching career stretched from 1934 to 1952, faced both Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle. Al met Ruth three times in 1934 when with the Philadelphia A’s, and then Mantle in 1952 with the Boston Red Sox. Benton spent most of his throwing years with the Detroit Tigers in the 1940’s.