Chicago Cubs’ Andrew & Austin Romine Become 16th Sibling Battery In MLB History

Chicago Cubs manager David Ross took advantage of a 17-4 blowout loss to the Milwaukee Brewers to make history on Thursday by allowing utility infielder Andrew Romine to pitch to his brother, veteran backup catcher Austin Romine.

“I knew they would get some time together, him being here and just getting here, but I didn’t know it’d be like that,” Ross said.

Andrew started the game at shortstop before being asked to record the final three outs. It served as his eighth career pitching appearance. It was Ross who went to Austin to let him know that he would be catching for Andrew.

“If you guys could have seen his face light up at that moment,” Ross said in his postgame video conference. “That was kind of the highlight of the day for me.”

“It gave me a little smile,” Andrew said. “Obviously the situation sucks, but that was something that we had a little fun with, given the circumstances.”

The Romine brothers became the first pair of siblings to play in a single game for the Cubs since Rick and Paul Reuschel did it in 1978.

“That was definitely something they can hold on to for a long, long time,” Ross said.

The Romines siblings became the first sibling battery in league history since 1962 when Larry Sherry threw to Norm Sherry as part of the 1962 Los Angeles Dodgers. The Romines became the 16th brother battery in league history.

“It was kind of like throwing the ball around in the backyard and playing Wiffle ball,” Andrew said.