Rarer than rare

DETROIT, MICHIGAN - There have been a number of baseball playing brother combinations; the Alou's probably being the most famous. Matty, Felipe and Jesus Alou all played in the same outfield for the San Francisco Giants. But here's something even rarer.

On this date in 1972 home plate umpire Bill Haller looked over the shoulder of his brother Tom Haller, the catcher for the Detroit Tigers in a game between the Kansas City Royals and the Tigers. It's believed to be the first time in major league history brothers played and umpired the same game. It ended up being a very well played game with the Royals winning 1-0.

So, the question is, did Tom Haller, the player, get rung up by Bill Haller, the umpire. The answer is no. A check of the box score from that day in July 1972 shows Tom going one for four, with a single. He did not strike out or walk.

Umpire-player sibling combinations are extremely rare, but not playing brothers. Here are some:

DiMaggio - Joe & Dominic
Boyer - Clete & Ken
Niekro - Phil & Joe
Aaron - Henry & Tommie
Perry - Gaylord & Jim
Brett - Ken & George
Maddux - Gregg & Mike
Giambi - Jason & Jeremy
Drew - J.D., Steve & Tim
Upton - B.J. & Justin
Young - Dimitri & Delmon
Patterson - Corey & Eric

And of course there are some famous father & son combinations:

Alou - Matty (brother) , Felipe (brother), Jesus (brother) and Moises (son)
Boone - Ray (grandfather), Bob (father), Brett (son) and Aaron (son)
Bell - Gus (grandfather), Buddy (son), David (grandson), Mike (grandson)
Ripken - Cal Sr. (father), Cal Jr. (son) & Billy (son)
Griffey - Ken Sr. (father) & Ken Jr. (son)

CONTRIBUTING SOURCE:
Brothers

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