The showdown between Josh Jung of the Texas Rangers and his younger brother, Jace Jung of the Detroit Tigers, has been the talk of the weekend.
On Sunday, however, things took a drastic turn. Although their family spent the whole weekend in town, Sunday was Mother’s Day, thus their mother, Mary, was the focus of the day.
Prior to the Rangers’ arrival on Friday to play the Tigers in a three-game series, the boys’ parents, Mary and Jeff Jung, had been in town. In addition to attending all three games, they received presents on Sunday.
Josh and Jace met up with their parents in front of the Rangers’ first-base dugout before to the game, and in celebration of the occasion, they gave her a pink baseball bat. The bat had Mary’s name on the barrel, the date of the game, and the logos for both teams.
In addition, Mary received a genuine jersey with the famous gothic “D” on one side, which was white and Rangers blue, divided down the center. Her sons’ last names and phone numbers were printed on the back. Over the weekend, she had been wearing a variant of the jersey. On Friday and Saturday, Texas donned their regular gray outfits.
Mary’s boys joined her for additional pictures when the Tigers requested her to carry the game ball to the pitcher’s mound.
Both Josh and Jace started for the second straight game and became the seventh set of brothers to play against each other on Mother’s Day since 1969. In 2021, Yuli Gurriel of Houston and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. of Toronto were the latest pair to do it.
On that list, too? On May 11, 1980, Joe Niekro and Phil Niekro faced off as pitchers for Joe’s Houston Astros and Phil’s Atlanta Braves.
The quirky part? For the game, Houston’s backup catcher was Bruce Bochy, the manager of the Rangers.
Bochy said, “What a great deal, especially for the mom.” There, she will be able to see both of her boys. The fact that it falls on Mother’s Day further adds to its significance.
When the Rangers triumphed 10-3 on Saturday, both brothers were in the starting lineup. Throughout the weekend, both spoke to media about their rivalry. In that game, they went to a new level.
While playing third base, the two were engaged in their own version of tic tac toe, as noted by Rangers Sports Network.
Josh stated earlier this week that the two had not played on the diamond since an intrasquad scrimmage at Texas Tech in 2019. Jace was an entering freshman, and Josh had been chosen by the Rangers with the eighth overall pick. Prior to that, he added, Josh was a senior and Jace was a freshman at San Antonio MacArthur, the last time the two were on the same squad.
Only 456 sets of brothers have participated in Major League Baseball.
Josh remarked, “It’s really cool for the family and for us.” It’s comprehensive. It’s very amazing. It’s incredible.
