Fred Bowen's "The Score" column,
June 28, 2002, Washington Post

Siblings Without Rivals

Wimbledon has started and everyone is talking about the fabulous Williams sisters, Venus and Serena. They are the two top-rated women's tennis players and the favorites to win the world's most famous tennis tournament.

I have been thinking a lot about the Williams sisters. But I am not wondering which Williams will win Wimbledon. Instead, I've been thinking: Have there ever been two sisters, or brothers, in the history of sports who have been so good at the same sport?

Tennis has had families such as the Maleeva sisters (Manuela, Magdalena and Katerina) and the Gullikson brothers (Tim and Tom), but none of them were ever rated as high as Venus and Serena. John McEnroe and Chris Evert were the No. 1 players in the world in the 1980s and both had siblings who played professional tennis. But Patrick McEnroe and Jeannie Evert were nowhere near as good as their famous brother and sister.

So how about other sports? Baseball has had some famous brother combinations. There were the DiMaggios. "Joltin' Joe" DiMaggio of the New York Yankees was a Hall of Famer and maybe the greatest all-around player of the 1930s and '40s. His brother, Dominic, was an All-Star center fielder for the Boston Red Sox. Still, no one ever said that Dominic was the second-best player in baseball.

Phil and Joe Niekro used their fluttering knuckleballs to win 539 games between them. The Perry brothers, Gaylord and Jim, won almost as many: 529 games. That's a lot of wins, but neither the Niekros nor the Perrys were ever considered the two very best pitchers in baseball. Remember, Venus and Serena are rated No. 1 and No. 2 in the world.

Twin brothers Phil and Steve Mahre won Olympic gold and silver skiing medals in the slalom in 1984. Still, that's just one race. Venus and Serena were the two best tennis players for all of last year.

Believe me, I did a lot of thinking and a lot of research on this and I came up with only two other times when it could be argued that sisters or brothers were the top two players in their sport. The first was in hockey. From 1971 to 1974, Phil Esposito of the Boston Bruins led the National Hockey League (NHL) in scoring . His younger brother, Tony, was a goaltender for the Chicago Black Hawks. Tony won the Vezina Trophy, which is given to the best goalie in the NHL, in 1970, 1972 and 1974.

The second was even longer ago, in the saber-fighting sport of fencing. Aldo and Nedo Nadi were brothers from Italy and probably the greatest fencers of all time. Nedo set an Olympic record by winning five gold medals in fencing at the 1920 Games. Aldo was undefeated in singles matches for 12 years. The brothers fought each other only once, in a demonstration match. Their father was in the audience and the brothers insisted that the match end in a draw, and it did.

Siblings like the Williamses don't happen every day. So if you get a chance, watch them. You'll be watching sports history.

Fred Bowen writes KidsPost's Friday sports column and is the author of sports novels for kids. Write to him at KidsPost, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, DC 20071. Or e-mail (with "The Score" in the subject field): kidspost@washpost.com

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