Which duo was the first ever father-son pair to play on the same team? | MLB Records

Believe it or not, the MLB has played host to a memorable father-son duo before. Due to the age between fathers and players, it is hard to conceive that a father and son could play on the same team, at the same time.

"The story of Ken Griffey Sr. grounding Ken Griffey Jr. after a game is priceless" - @ Baseball Central

MLB seems to be teeming with younger players, while older players seem to be retiring earlier. Although we saw 39-year old Houston Astros star, Justin Verlander put on a clinic in 2022 to win the Cy Young Award, such events are rare.

So has the league ever witnessed a father and a son play together? Yes. The pair in question are the Griffeys. Ken Griffey and Ken Griffey Jr.

Ken Griffey was born in 1950 and made his debut for the Cincinnati Reds in 1973. He was a part of the legendary Reds of the mid-1970s that featured the legendary Pete Rose and won both the 1975 and 1976 World Series.

"31 years ago today, Ken Griffey Sr. and Ken Griffey Jr. became the first father-son duo to play on the same team" - @ ESPN

A young father, Ken Griffey had his son of the same name in 1969, when he was only 19 years old. Growing up, Ken Griffey Jr. would watch his father play in the big leagues and quickly took to the game they shared, becoming a promising young prospect in his own right.

He made his first MLB appearance as a member of the Seattle Mariners as a fresh-faced 19 year old in 1989. His 16 home runs and 61 RBIs led him to a third-place finish in MVP Award voting that year.

The following season, Ken Sr. was signed by the Seattle Mariners so that he could join his son on the field. The pair first appeared together on August 31st in a game between the Mariners and the Kansas City Royals, marking the first time in MLB history that a father and son played together on the same team.

Griffey Sr. retired the following season.

We may never see a father-son team in the MLB again

Due to the fact that there are fewer and fewer 40+ players in the league. and fathers are having children later and later, we may never see such a heartwarming event take place ever again. Perhaps the Griffeys will go down as the only such pair to ever grace a big-league field.