Jeremy, Andy, and Billy: Baseball's Less-Famous Little Brothers

(Note: this post has some NSFW language, but it's there to tell a story too good to ignore, and the story is impossible to tell otherwise. Earmuffs for the sensitive.)
 
Giambi. LaRoche. Ripken. These three names combined for 94 home runs, 551 runs batted in, and zero All-star games. None of them won a World Series, and none will ever be enshrined in Cooperstown. The best of them hit for a .263 average over six years.

Now, before you come after me with pitchforks and torches, I swear I did my research, and no, I'm not talking about Jason, Adam, and Cal Jr respectively. Each of these three stellar infielders each had decidedly less stellar (says the guy blogging about other people instead of telling his own baseball stories) younger brothers who each saw varying amounts of playing time in the Majors: Jeremy Giambi, Andy LaRoche, and Billy Ripken.

Jeremy, soon before his trade to Philly.

Jeremy is sadly most famous for not only being Jason's little brother, but having the extremely unenviable task of trying to replace his big brother after Jason bolted Oakland for the greener pastures of the New York Yankees in 2002, and perhaps even sadder, for being on the wrong end of one of the most confounding defensive plays in post-season history, when iconic Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter seemingly materialized in foul territory, rescuing an errant relay throw and flipping it to also-iconic Yankee catcher Jorge Posada, who just managed to graze not-nearly-as-iconic Athletic first baseman Jeremy Giambi before he could score the tying run in the 2001 ALCS. Hey, at least he was playing in the 2001 ALCS though, right? A general need to beef up the lineup led Billy "Moneyball" Beane to trade Jeremy to the Phillies for utility-man John Mabry in May of the following season. Giambi would be out of baseball completely by 2005, with a career average of .263 with 52 HR and 209 HR in 510 games with four teams.

Andy, during his stint in Pittsburgh

Andy LaRoche, like so many guys in the league, has numbers that tell the tale of a career that has never really gotten off the ground. Expectations were certainly there at the outset though: he is the son of two-time All Star California Angels pitcher Dave LaRoche, and the brother of Gold Glove, Silver Slugger, and All-Rookie first baseman Adam LaRoche. To make that sibling rivalry even richer, the LaRoche brothers were teammates on the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2008 and 2009, with Adam manning first and Andy holding down third. While Andy finds himself a free agent at the moment (his most recent stint was a minor league contract within the Toronto Blue Jays organization), he can at least hold a gold medal in the 2007 Baseball World Cup over his brother's head. Hey, small victories, right? His current stats sit at .226 with 22 HR and 113 RBI over six seasons.

Billy Ripken's infamous Fleer card

Perhaps the hardest act to follow, the hardest big brother to share a name and the associated pressure with, is Cal Ripken though, no? Ironman. The Hall of Famer. The Champion. The two-time MVP. Like Andy and Adam, Billy and Cal were even teammates: Billy played for the Orioles from 1987-1992, and again in 1996. Cal Jr, as you know, spent his entire career (1981-2001) wearing Baltimore orange, as did their father, Cal Sr, who either coached or managed the O's from 1976-1992. Something in the water, hon. While Billy may never have the legendary numbers enjoyed by his older brother, he was responsible for one of the cheekiest moments in baseball card history. In 1989, he posed for a Fleer baseball card with a bat in his hand. It's a common pose, one seen on countless cards before and since, right? Well, Billy and his locker-room humor decided to spice it up a bit, scrawling the phrase Fuck Face on the knob of his bat in permanent marker. Inexplicably this initially made its way past the censors, and has become an incredible collector's item in its original, untouched state. Billy, always the spitfire, later quipped: "I think not only did they see it, they enhanced it. That writing on that bat is way too clear. I don't write that neat. I think they knew that once they saw it, they could use the card to create an awful lot of stir." Ripken found himself largely in journeyman status, playing 912 games in 12 seasons (an average of 76 per season). His final season was in 1998 with the Detroit Tigers, having slugged 20 HR and driven in 229 RBI with a .247 average.