Daddy Brought Out the Whoopin' Stick

The older I get, the more of a geek I become. One of my habits that I just can't shake despite my advancing age is that I'm a trading card collector. Yesterday, I picked up a box of Bowman Drafts and Prospects baseball cards. This set features players that were just drafted, many of whom are fresh out of high school. Of course, most of these players will never make it to the big leagues, but at this point optimism is high; and I can say things like, "Wow, this guy could be a future Hall of Famer. Just look at his stats from last year at Berkeley High School."

Some of the cards I pulled included the sons of Davey Johnson, Garth Iorg, and Dave LaRoche. This brought up the question: If there was an all-time Father/Son game, who would win? The condition is that for either the father or son to be eligible, both must have played in the major leagues. So even tho Roger Clemens' son is in the minors, Roger is not eligible for the game. Also, both members of the father/son tandem do not have to play in the game. So Pete Rose is in, but Pete Rose Jr. just watches from the stands (or maybe he slides into his old role as bat boy.)

Here are the rosters I came up with:

Pos: Fathers/Sons

1B George Sisler/Prince Fielder
2B Eddie Collins/Roberto Alomar
3B Pete Rose/Buddy Bell
SS Maury Wills/Dick Schofield
C Yogi Berra/Sandy Alomar Jr.
OF Ken Griffey Sr./Ken Griffey Jr.
OF Bobby Bonds/Barry Bonds
OF Tim Raines/Moises Alou
SP Mel Stottlemyre/Tony Armas Jr.
RP Joe Niekro/Robb Nenn
DH Cecil Fielder/Danny Tartabull
Bench Manny Mota/Jason Kendall

The managers by the way would be Connie Mack vs Terry Francona.

Felipe Alou, Hal McRae, and Jose Cruz all missed the cut on an overcrowded outfield for the Padres. In fact this entire team is stacked with Hall of Famers. Aside from Cecil Fielder, the lineup is tailored more towards run manufacturing rather than power, but with Maury Wills, Tim Raines, and Pete Rose, you can be sure they'll be taking that extra base. The only thing that could have made them more dominant would have been if Ted Williams' kid had been able to con his way into a major league at bat.

The kids have an impressive start to their lineup with Roberto Alomar, Moises Alou, Ken Griffey Jr. and Barry Bonds. But with Tony Armas Jr. as the starter, they'll need to score a ton of runs just to stay close, and the 6 through 9 hitters just won't get the job done. The Fathers beat this team like an ugly, illegitmate child. Final score 13-6.