BRETT

Lets get started with brothers, and the first set includes a Hall of Famer and his well-travelled brother. Ken Brett pitched only 4 games in 1980, all in April, all for the White Sox. He faced Kansas City twice:

April 13, 1980 — Royals vs. White Sox (at Comiskey Park) Ken Brett pitched in relief. George Brett was in the lineup. Result: Single to right field

April 20, 1980 — Royals vs. White Sox (at Royals Stadium) Ken Brett pitched again in relief. George Brett was in the lineup. Result: Groundout to second.

They overlapped 8 seasons, but Ken was in the NL for most of them. Across their careers they faced each other 4 times with each besting the other twice, with George getting two singles.

CRUZ

Héctor and José Cruz met four times in April of 1980, splitting the series evenly. Houston took the first two at the Astrodome, but San Francisco answered with a pair of one run wins at Candlestick Park. Though neither brother delivered a big blow, the family matchup produced a perfect 2–2 deadlock. Jose was 3-16 and Hector was 0-7.

FORSCH

In 1980, Ken Forsch and his brother Bob Forsch did face each other, though not in the same game. Ken Forsch was pitching for the Houston Astros getting the win 4-2, while Bob Forsch was with the St. Louis Cardinals as a reliever where he pitched a scoreless inning (in a win/loss)
As starting pitchers in the same game; at the Astrodome on August 29, 1978 there was a pitchers’ duel — both brothers went the distance, but Bob edged Ken with just enough run support.Result: Cardinals 2, Astros 1

Then on May 25, 1979 Bob Forsch bettered his last outing by pitching a complete game shutout, while Ken took the loss. Result: Cardinals 6, Astros 0.

The two had already made history in 1979 by becoming the only set of brothers to each throw a no-hitter in MLB, with Ken no-hitting the Braves on April 7, 1979, and Bob no-hitting the Mets on June 23, 1979.

IORG

I always thought these guys were Canadian. I think it was because Garth played for Toronto and that was a Canadian name, to me. I knew of no Dane’s but assumed since it was not a common name it was also Canadian but alas they were from California.
They never played each other in a game because Garth solely played for the Blue Jays and Dane solely played in the National League with the Padres and Cardinals. There might be a universe where they met in the 1985 World Series. That year the Blue Jays had a 3-1 lead on Kansas City only to lose the last three games and miss the World Series.
That might have changed the fate of both Iorgs because KC ended up winning the crown. Had Toronto been in it at least one brother would have won.

UNDERWOOD

Tom was also on Toronto in 1980 and Pat was on Detroit. Tom was a starter and Pat was a spot starter and middle reliever.

Per the always accurate Wikipedia; “Underwood (Pat) started the 1979 season in Evansville and had a 2–3 record and an ERA of 2.81. He was called up by the Tigers and pitched his first game on May 31 against the Toronto Blue Jays at Exhibition Stadium. Making the start for the Jays was his brother, Tom.

Tom found the whole thing stupid, but the brothers brought their best. Pat did not give up a hit until the fifth inning. Tom allowed four hits and struck out four in keeping the Tigers scoreless through seven. Then, Tigers center fielder Jerry Morales led off the eighth with a home run. Pat pitched into the ninth before handing the game over to the bullpen with one out. For Tom, it was a complete game loss.”

They were from Kokomo, Indiana. Both lefties and Tom had 86 wins, 18 saves and a career ERA of 3.89, Pat had 13 wins, 8 saves and a career ERA of 4.43.

MURRAY

I didn’t know until very recently that Rich Murray was Eddie’s brother. Maybe the absence of the mutton chops his brother had and the fact that he only played in 57 career games and that this was his sole Topps card were also reasons. At this point Eddie was a superstar. Since they were in different leagues (Giants and Orioles) they never played against each other.

NIEKRO

Phil and Joe Niekro, in 2025 Sarah Langs of mlb.com ranked the Niekro brothers as the #4 greatest sibling combo in MLB history. From a kid’s perspective they were pretty divergent in terms of their cards, I didn’t think to look on the back and see they were 5 years apart. But to me they were almost father son.

They are so underrated in time. Phil is a Hall of Famer so he go his just due. But they are both lost artifacts of baseball, the knuckleballer. They were the second set of brothers to face each other in a major league game. The first was Jesse and Virgil Barnes in the 1920s.

They most memorably faced each other in 1976 where Joe homered off Phil. This is an excerpt from the excellent article referenced below.

Joe claimed his third win by pitching eight innings, giving up only one earned run on four hits, and striking out six. At one point, he retired 15 straight batters. Phil gave up nine hits in 7⅓ innings and took his fourth loss. Phil said after the game, “Joe pitched a good game. Much better than I did. He threw strikes. I was in trouble all night. He had it going, I didn’t.”

It turned out to be the only home run of Joe’s 22-year career, and it came as a surprise to him. Joe said, “It was a knuckleball. I didn’t know it was going. I knew I hit it good though. When I got to first, Bob Lillis (first-base coach) said it was a home run, and I almost missed the bag. I couldn’t believe it.”

May 29, 1976: Joe Niekro victimizes brother Phil with his only career home run – Society for American Baseball Research