Mariano Rivera Jr. Wants To Play Baseball On His Own Terms

Mariano Rivera Jr. is the No. 1 starter for his Iona College team, and of course gets a lot of attention as the son of a future Hall of Famer. However, he does not plan to ride on the coattails of success of his father, who is the best closer in baseball history. In fact, the younger Rivera says he won’t throw the legendary cut fastball his father excelled at, because that was his father’s pitch and no one will ever likely be better throwing it.

See related story about Mariano Rivera Jr. at the link below from The Boston Globe:
http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2014/04/21/mariano-rivera-son-gets-closer-look-iona/WzbwngPIXIHXFGZbXwhuyM/story.html

Hunter Harvey Holding Up The Family Tradition

Hunter Harvey is a second-year pitcher in the Baltimore Orioles organization, following his father’s and brother’s footsteps in pursuit of a professional baseball career. His father, Bryan Harvey, was a two-time All-Star pitcher in the big leagues during 1987 through 1995. His brother Kris reached the Double-A level in the minors, but ended his career in 2012 after eight seasons. Hunter was a first-round draft selection out of high school by the Baltimore Orioles in the 2013 MLB Draft.

Hunter’s grandfather, David Harvey, played ball on a different diamond. He was an Amateur Softball Association National Slow-Pitch Softball Hall of Famer who won five national titles in the ’70s and ’80s.

See related story about Hunter Harvey at the link below from delmarvanow.com:
http://www.delmarvanow.com/article/20140402/SPORTS35/304020030/The-family-business-For-Hunter-Harvey-baseball-has-always-been-part-of-life

Pete Rose Jr. Still Chasing Major League Dream

Pete Rose Jr.’s major league career consisted of eleven games in 1997. The rest of his professional playing days included twenty-one seasons in the minor leagues and independent leagues. His career paled in comparison to his father Pete Rose Sr., who was the all-time hit leader in Major League Baseball.

Now, Pete Jr. is still pursuing his major league dream, but this time as a manager. He has served as a Rookie League manager for the past three seasons in the Chicago White Sox organization, and is hoping that route may eventually land him a job in the big leagues again.

See related story about Pete Rose Jr. at the link below from sportsillustrated.cnn.com:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/mlb/news/20140403/pete-rose-jr-minor-leagues/

Indians’ Announcer Tom Hamilton Gets Emotional For Son’s First MLB At-Bat

Cleveland Indians announcer Tom Hamilton took a day off recently to watch his son’s first Major League at-bat during Spring Training. Nick Hamilton, a 35th-round draft pick of the Indians in 2012, got an opportunity to be in the Indians’ lineup during a recent game in the big league camp. Upon news of his son’s call-up, Tom decided to shuck his broadcast duties for the game, instead simply watching the historic moment for the family. As expected, it was an emotional day for the father of the 24-year-old player.

See relates story and video about Tom and Nick Hamilton at the link below from cbssports.com:
http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseball/24501227/video-indians-announcer-tears-up-during-sons-first-at-bat

Lukas Schiraldi Gets Big Win For Texas Coach

Lukas Schiraldi, currently a junior pitcher for the University of Texas, pitched the Longhorns to a recent victory that gained Coach Augie Garrido’s 1,894th career victory in the college ranks, the most in college baseball history.

Lukas is the son of Calvin Schiraldi, a former Major League pitcher from 1984-1991, who was also an All-American pitcher for a national championship Longhorns team.

See related story about Lukas Schiraldi at the link below from espn.com:
http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/10675461/augie-garrido-texas-longhorns-becomes-winningest-baseball-coach

Scioscia for Gretzky: Sons of Famous Fathers Involved in Baseball Trade

Matt Scioscia was recently traded for Trevor Gretzky in a deal between the Los Angeles Angels and the Chicago Cubs. If those last names sound familiar, they indeed are. Matt is the son of Mike Scioscia, the Angles manager, and Trevor is the son of legendary NHL Hall of Famer, Wayne Gretzky. Both players are currently playing in the low minors.

See story about this trade at the link below from the Chicago Tribune:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/chi-trevor-gretzky-traded-20140320,0,2024782.story

Sandy Alomar Sr. Imparts Wisdom

Sandy Alomar Sr., a 14-year veteran of the Major Leagues and father of former Major Leaguers Sandy Jr. and Roberto, was recently a guest speaker at the Vauxhall Academy of Baseball awards and scholarship dinner. He spoke about the type of focus that was required to reach the major leagues.

See related story about Alomar at the link for The Vauxhall Advance below:
http://www.vauxhalladvance.com/news/local-news/1774-baseball-patriarch-imparts-wisdom.html

The Biggio Brothers Are Playing Together Again

Connor and Cavan Biggio, sons of former Major Leaguer Craig Biggio, are now playing together on the University of Notre Dame baseball team. Conor is a junior outfielder, and Cavan is a freshman second baseman.

They last played as teammates for St. Thomas High School in Houston, when they won back-to-back 5A state championships in 2010 and 2011. Their high school team was coached by their father.

See the story about the Biggios in the link below from the Houston Chronicle:
http://blog.chron.com/chickenfriedsportsdom/2014/02/biggio-baseball-band-back-together/#21004101=0

Baseball Is In The Boone Blood

At the guest speaker at the recent West Texas Sports Banquet in Midland Texas, Bob Boone spoke about the three generations of his family who played Major League baseball, only one of five such families to accomplish this feat. Bob noted a number of factors that contributed to his family’s success: skills, wisdom and experience being passed down the generations; genetics; and good luck.

Bob’s father, Ray, played as an infielder in the Majors in the 1950s. Bob was a long-time catcher for the Phillies, Angels and Royals from 1972 to 1990. Bob’s two sons, Bret and Aaron, were both infielders in the 1990s and 2000s.

See the related story at the link below from the Odessa American:
http://www.oaoa.com/oavarsity/article_402c5362-8fb4-11e3-baf1-0017a43b2370.html

Butterfield’s Father Used To Take Him To Fenway

Brian Butterfield, the third base coach for the World Champion Boston Red Sox, recalls days when his father, then head baseball coach at the University of Maine, took him to see Red Sox games at Boston’s Fenway Park. Brian says he always dreamed of playing with the Red Sox.

His father Jack would later become Vice President for Scouting and Player Development for the Yankees. Brian was an infielder in the Yankees organization, but never made it to the majors as a player.

But he’s still living his dream of being in the big leagues at Fenway.

See related story at TheDay.com about the Butterfields:
http://www.theday.com/article/20140111/SPORT10/301119933/1044