At the age of 10, Jerry Hairston Jr. would watch his father play games at old Comiskey Park in Chicago, eagerly waiting for the real fun to begin. As soon as the White Sox were done, the Little Sox took the field.
Hairston, Casey Fisk (son of Carlton) and Ryan Luzinski (son of Greg) would play their own game until the grounds crew finally chased them away with sprinklers.
Now in his second full major-league season with the Orioles, Hairston is one of three Orioles with those same kinds of memories this Father's Day.
What's it like being the son of a major-league ballplayer? What's it like being the son who goes on to make the big leagues himself one day? And in Hairston's case, what's it like being the third generation in your family to reach the big leagues?
Hairston, Gary Matthews Jr. and David Segui sat down to relate some of those experiences recently.
Matthews recalled how his first car was a Camaro Z28, the car his father won for being Most Valuable Player of the 1983 National League Championship Series. Segui remembered the difficulties of rarely seeing a father who traveled throughout the major-league season and spent his off-seasons playing winter ball in other countries.
"The thing is, you can't get any of that time back that baseball took away," Segui said last weekend, as he watched his son, Cory, handle batboy duties for the Orioles. "There's a give and take from this life. So many great things come of it. You get to travel, you see places most kids never get to see, you meet people and do things most kids never get to do in a lifetime.
"But at the same time, it takes a lot of time away from families, too."
Like Matthews and Hairston, Segui has remained close with his father. In fact, Segui now has a 60-acre plot of land in Kansas City that sits adjacent to his father's 30 acres. The two often go out and fish together, and one can only imagine their stories.
What follows is a sampling of the experiences these three Orioles shared.
Grandpa's footsteps
Hairston has been through his grandfather's scrapbook. Sam Hairston played five seasons in the Negro leagues before becoming the first African-American player for the White Sox in 1951. He spent 45 years in the White Sox organization as a player, coach and scout before his death in 1997.
Sam had two sons who made the big leagues. John Hairston was an outfielder who played three games for the Chicago Cubs in 1969. Jerry Hairston Sr. spent most of his 14-year big-league career with the White Sox, leading the American League in pinch hits from 1983 to 1985.
"I never knew how hard it was to come off the bench," said Jerry Hairston Jr., who lost his starting second base job to Brian Roberts last month. "My dad would go a week to 10 days without an at-bat, come off the bench and hit a bullet somewhere. With me, I'm like a fish out of water."
When Jerry Jr. reached the big leagues in 1998, the Hairstons joined the Bells (Gus, Buddy and David) and Boones (Ray, Bob and Bret/Aaron) as the only families with three generations of major-leaguers.
"You don't really sit down and think about it, but if you do, it is pretty remarkable," Hairston said. "To have one person in your family make it to the major leagues, the odds are obviously against you. But to have three generations, that is a big deal."
Sarge and son
Matthews can't go anywhere without somebody asking about the Sarge. Gary Matthews Sr., now the hitting coach for the Milwaukee Brewers, spent 16 seasons in the majors and was nicknamed Sarge by former Philadelphia Phillies teammate Pete Rose.
An All-Star with the Atlanta Braves in 1979, the elder Matthews had his finest moments during the 1983 playoffs. He hit .429 with three home runs in the NLCS, only to see the Phillies lose the World Series in five games to the Orioles.
Growing up, the younger Matthews didn't consider Rose, Dusty Baker and Bobby Bonds stars so much as he considered them his father's buddies. Certainly, this helped remove the intimidation factor from his major-league experience.
"I wasn't in awe when I got to this level," Matthews Jr. said. "The adjustments that I had to make were physical or baseball adjustments."
It hasn't been easy escaping his father's shadow. At 27, he already has bounced around with five teams.
"I'm proud of the fact my father played this game, and that we have the same name," Matthews said."
Baseball dads
Segui doesn't begrudge his father for being gone from home so much. Diego Segui was born in Cuba and posted 92 wins over 15 big-league seasons. His 2.56 ERA with Oakland led the AL in 1970, but players weren't making what they make now, so he played winter ball for the added income.
"We knew he'd rather be home," said David Segui, who will turn 36 next month. "We missed him, but we never resented him."
In those days, teams were pretty strict about granting players' sons access to the field.
The Orioles are much more relaxed. Segui's son Cory, 11, suits up in his own uniform, runs the bases before batting practice and serves as the team's batboy.
"He gets up, and around 11 [a.m.], he's wondering what time we get to go to the ballpark," Segui said. "That's all he wants to do, and I was the same way."