Sibling Rivalry
Sibling Rivalry
While this is the first time that brothers have been on opposite sides in the Super Bowl (they’re coaches, not players, but it still counts), it isn’t the first time that we’ve had brothers go head-to-head with a championship on the line. In fact, it’s happened a few times.
The first brothers that come to mind, obviously, are the Catching Molinas. But Bengie, Jose and Yadier have actually never playeda against each other in the World Series. Bengie was on the Rangers in 2010, but not when they played Yadier and the Cardinals in 2011. Bengie and Jose were teammates on the 2002 Angels, though. In total, the Molinas have six World Series rings (two each) and seven appearances between them. They won rings three years in a row (Jose-2009 Yankees, Bengie-2010 Giants, Yadier-2011 Cardinals), just like Livan (1997 Marlins) and El Duque Hernandez (1998-2000 Yankees) did.
Another great baseball family was the Alous: Felipe, Jesus and Matty. They were all members of the Giants, and Felipe and Matty were on the team when they lost to the Yankees in the 1962 World Series. The brother teammates are common throughout baseball history. Paul and Lloyd Waner are both in the Hall of Fame, and they spent a majority of their careers as teammates on the Pirates. Amazingly, Pittsburgh only went to one World Series with the brothers, though, losing to the Murders Row Yankees in 1927. And we can’t forget Dizzy and Daffy Dean on the Gashouse Gang Cardinals of the ’30s. They each won twice in the 1934 World Series, which was all the Cardinals needed to win the title.
Joe DiMaggio famously had two other baseball-playing brothers. His brother, Vince, was on the Reds when they played the Yankees in 1939, but Vince wasn’t on Cincinnati’s World Series roster, so that one doesn’t count. There have been times where brothers actually did play against each other in the Series, though, most notably 1964, when Ken Boyer was the third baseman for the Cardinals and Clete Boyer played third base for the Yankees. You also had brothers go head-to-head in the World Series three years in a row from 1921-23, as Bob Meusel’s Yankees took on Irish Meusel’s Giants. But the first instance of the brother vs. brother World Series occurred in 1920. Doc Johnson was on the champion Indians and Jimmy played for the Dodgers that year.
In hockey, it’s much more common. Since 1917, 13 different sets of brothers have won the Stanley Cup together. There were two sets of brothers on the 1923-24 Canadiens–Bill and Bobby Boucher and Odie and Sprague Cleghorn. Bill and Bun Cook won a pair of Cups with the Rangers, and the 1939-40 Rangers boasted two brother tandems (Mac and Neil Colville; Lynn and Muzz Patrick). More recently, you had Brent & Duane, two of the six hockey-playing Sutters on the 1981-82 and 1982-83 Islanders. Their brother, Darryl, was the Kings’ coach last year. But the gold standard for hockey-playing brothers were the legendary Maurice Richard and his brother Henri. They won five consecutive Cups in Montreal in Henri’s first five seasons (1955-56 to 1959-60).
You’ve also had the brothers winning Olympic medals together. Pavel and Valeri Bure won a pair of Olympic medals for Team Russia (silver in 1998, bronze in 2002). They were joined on the 1998 Russian team by Dmitri and Boris Mironov. Frantisek and Thomas Kaberle won broze in 2006 for the Czech Republic. Saku and Mikko Koivu were silver medalists with Finland in 2006, while Kenny and Jorgen Jonsson were both a part of Sweden’s two gold medal teams (1994, 2006). And the two best active brother acts in the NHL are, of course, the Sedin twins, who almost won the Cup with Vancover two seasons ago (and did win Olympic gold in 2006), and the Staals. Marc plays for the Rangers, while Jordan and Eric are teammates on the Hurricanes. Luke and Brayden Schenn are also teammates, on the Flyers.
Brothers have gone against each other in the Stanley Cup Finals five times. When Scott Niedermayer and the Devils faced Rob Niedermayer and the Ducks in 2003, it was the first time since 1946 that brothers faced off on opposite sides in the Cup Finals. Scott later joined the Ducks, and they won one together in 2007. The other instances of this happening were Tiny (Bruins) and Paul (Rangers) Thompson in 1929 and Ken (Canadiens) and Terry (Bruins) Reardon in 1946. Buck and Frank Boucher and Corb and Cy Denney were the first brothers to meet in the Stanley Cup Finals, as Buck and Cy’s Ottawa Senators beat Frank and Corb’s Vancouver Millionaires in 1921.
The NBA has had its share of brothers, too. Horace and Harvey Grant were the last to go against each other in the Finals, when Horace and the Bulls topped Harvey and Blazers in 1992. Currently holding down the mantle on the basketball side are the Gasols, Pau with the Lakers and Marc with the Grizzlies.
So, with all these brother combinations throughout history, it’s almost a surprise that it’s taken this long to have brother vs. brother in the Super Bowl. I don’t think it’ll be too long until we have another one. Except this time, it’ll be two brothers playing against each other. Maybe Peyton vs. Eli. Who knows? I do know one thing, though. Coach Harbaugh’s team will be hoisting the Lombardi Trophy on Feb. 3.2013.
