One of my mini-collections is of "lesser known" players. Put simply, a "lesser known" is a baseball player who reminds you of a more famous person. I categorize these players into a few groups:
Players with a more famous baseball player in the family.
Players sharing the same name with a more famous baseball player.
Players sharing the same name with a more famous athlete in a different sport.
Players sharing the same name with another more famous person.
I don't remember when I first became interested in this subset of cards, but I'm sure Craig Griffey and Mike Tyson had something to do with it. I recently went through TCDB's list of player names to see if I could pluck out any new ones I hadn't found before. I found A LOT of cards for players that I consider lesser knowns, and Card Barrel came through with a lot of cards available. So I guess there's something good about basically every minor league player getting cards these days. My full list of lesser knowns (currently at 181 different players) can be found here.
Today I'm going to feature only players with a more famous dad who played baseball. Some of these guys still have a chance to become better known and possibly escape this list altogether. Enjoy!
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| Tate Matheny - son of Mike Matheny; Highest level: AAA in 2019 |
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| Ryan Ripken - son of Cal Ripken Jr.; Highest level: AA in 2019 |
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| Reid Ryan - son of Nolan Ryan; Highest level: A+ in 1995 |
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| Preston Mattingly - son of Don Mattingly; Highest level: A+ in 2011 |
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| Joe Gaetti - son of Gary Gaetti; Highest level - AAA in 2008 |
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| Griffin Conine - son of Jeff Conine; Highest level: A in 2019 |
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| Glenallen Hill Jr. - son of Glenallen Hill; Highest level: Rookie in 2019 |
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| Cutter Dykstra - son of Lenny Dykstra; Highest level: AAA in 2015 |
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| Cameron Seitzer - son of Kevin Seitzer; Highest level: AAA in 2016 |
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| Brett Wallach - son of Tim Wallach; Highest level: A+ in 2012 |
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| Bo Greenwell - son of Mike Greenwell; Highest level: AA in 2014 |
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| Andre Randolph - son of Willie Randolph; Highest level: A- in 2003 |
Which player from this list surprised you the most? Had you heard of any of these guys before? Happy Easter everyone!
I knew about Ripken, Ryan, Mattingly and Wallach. The others I had no idea (per usual, unless they're in the Dodgers organization, you have to reach the majors to land on my radar).
ReplyDeleteI was familiar with some of these, not others. Fun stuff!
ReplyDeleteI was familiar with Matheny and Glenalllen Hill, Jr. Other than that, I didn't know.
ReplyDeleteI hear that some former players named Tatis and Guerrero have kids who are supposed to be pretty good. Anybody know anything about them?
Ha.
DeleteReid Ryan and Preston Mattingly are the only two I knew outside of Craig Griffey and Mike Tyson.
ReplyDeleteApparently baseball players like giving their kids unusual names.
ReplyDeleteI guess I'm surprised Dykstra had a kid.
I feel bad for some of these kids, a few of them had absolutely impossible acts to follow. Hopefully they were able to find some success outside of baseball.
ReplyDeleteTate Matheny, Cutter Dykstra, and Reid Ryan are the only ones I've heard of. I didn't know Mike Greenwell had a son in the minors.
ReplyDeleteWayne Gretzky's kid Trevor Gretzky played some minor league ball as well.