23 April: Fernando Tatís Day
A story about another great baseball family in the making.
23 is a sacred number in sports. Michael Jordan and David Beckham wore it, so does LeBron James. But in baseball, wearing number 23 meant a family legacy passed on.
For some baseball fans, the Tatís family is currently the new baseball royalty. Fernando Antonio Tatís, the patriarch of the family, played with the Houston Astros’ minor league organizations back in the mid-1970s. His son, Fernando Gabriel Tatís Sr., played over a decade in Major League Baseball in the late 1990s and 2000s, mainly with the St. Louis Cardinals and the New York Mets. The youngest Tatís, Fernando Gabriel Tatís Jr., is the new face of Major League Baseball.
What most people don’t know is that the Tatís aren’t the usual sports family. They aren’t similar to the Mannings or the Matthewses in the NFL or the Gurriel family in Cuban baseball. Both families boast top genes and have significant media exposure comparing the sons to their fathers. The Tatís’ story is closer to the Griffeys, another baseball family. Their stories consisted of a long-lost father, a son with a solid career, and a superstar grandson.
Let’s start with Fernando Tatís Sr. Now, people know him as the father of a sports icon. Yet, he also had an exciting backstory during his career.
As a child growing up in San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic, Tatís Sr. knew that his father was playing minor league baseball in the United States. But that’s all he knew about his father, who left the family when Tatís Sr. was just four.
“Mom, can you tell me the story about my dad and the baseball bat?” said Tatís Sr. to his mom, Yudelcia. Still, the boy grew up desperately wanting to be his father’s, and the story of the baseball bat would be enough to determine his own son’s career path.
Tatís Sr. kept searching in vain for his father after playing minor league baseball in the United States in 1994. Eventually, on August 20, 1997, Tatís Sr. found his father after Texas Rangers’ scout Omar Minaya-who was Tatís’s mentor- contacted the New York Times a few days prior.
After the father and son rekindle their relationship, Tatís’ career skyrocketed. A two grand-slam night on April 23, 1999, against the Dodgers’ pitcher Chan-Ho Park will be the most memorable thing baseball fans remember about the 5-foot-11-inch third baseman.
At that time, Tatís Sr. was playing on a historic St. Louis Cardinals team, alongside famous slugger Mark McGwire who hit 70 home runs the year prior, then a major league record. Nevertheless, little did people know that Tatís’s 3-month old son, Fernando Tatís Jr., was already destined to be another legend in the making.
Fernando Tatís Sr. had a long career in the Major League from 1997 to 2010, with a hiatus between 2004 and 2005. Along the way, he frequently brought Tatís Jr. inside the clubhouses of the teams he played. The father-son duo often trained together before games and interacted with star players like New York Mets’ captain David Wright.
That kind of upbringing proved to be exceptional. In 2015, the Chicago White Sox signed Tatís Jr., only 16 at the time, out of the Dominican Republic. A year later, he was traded to the San Diego Padres for James Shields.
While Shields regressed during his time with the South Siders, Tatís Jr. blossomed. The lanky 6-foot-3 infielder was blocked at shortstop for future All-Star Tim Anderson in the White Sox’s minor league system. But, after he was traded, Tatís Jr. showed signs that he was the superstar that White Sox missed.
Tatís Jr. played superbly in the Padres’ Minor Leagues system, hitting 42 home runs along with a .942 on-base plus slugging percentage. Eventually, after shining brightly in the minors, Tatís Jr. was added to the Padres’ MLB Opening Day roster in 2019, at only 20 years old.
He delivered one of the most enjoyable rookie campaigns in recent years. People suddenly rave about the second-generation major league player who is able to hit for average and power, runs well in the basepaths, defends his position well, and has a cannon of an arm.
Then, no wonder people see the rise of Tatís Jr. as the second coming of Ken Griffey Jr. Nevertheless, they play different positions; Tatís Jr. played shortstop while Griffey Jr. mainly manned the center field during his career.
After finishing third in the 2019 National League Rookie of the Year Award, Tatís Jr. hit another gear in 2020. He showed energetic, flashy plays at both sides of the ballgame, along with an unprecedented swagger for the long-suffering San Diego Padres.
He also hit a grand slam in this game which sparked the Slam Diego Padres mayhem, along with comments about unwritten rules in baseball. Nevertheless, the Padres eventually snapped their fourteen-year postseason drought and faced the St.Louis Cardinals in the 2020 National League Wild Card Series.
The second game of this series eventually became the second high point of Tatís Jr. ‘s 2020 season. This was also the day the baseball gods forgave his sins of having too much swagger and christened him as the new baseball icon.
When the Cardinals have seemingly secured their spot in the Division Series, he hit a three-run home run off of Giovanny Gallegos.The home run itself then sparked the Padres’ comeback,since Manny Machado and Wil Myers both also hit solo home runs to turn the tide.
Then, Tatís Jr. hit another home run to seal the game for the Padres. This time, he did this bat flip, which was so iconic it instantly made him the cover of the new MLB the Show 21. The Padres then progressed to the National League Division Series the next game.
Unfortunately, Tatís Jr. and the Padres were swept by the eventual World Series champion and their division rival, the Los Angeles Dodgers. Still, the ‘Fernandomania’ didn’t end there.
After all, Tatís Jr. won many individual accolades. At 22 years old, he already won the 2020 National League Silver Slugger Award at shortstop, along with a fourth-place finish in the National League MVP award and a place in the All-MLB first team.
Then, on April 23, 2021, Fernando Tatís Jr. made another history. Exactly 22 years to the date when his father hit two grand slams at Dodger Stadium, Tatís Jr. hit two home runs in the same ballpark against Clayton Kershaw. That home run, which came in the fourth game of the so-called fiercest rivalry in MLB, cemented his legacy as the future face of baseball.
There’s a saying in baseball, play for the name in front of your jersey, not your back. But in this case, Tatís Jr. definitely plays for the name on the back of the jersey and his family’s legacy in years to come.
Farhan Muhammad Aditomo is a lifelong baseball fan who also found love in other sports such as combat sports, motorsports, association football, and gridiron football. He aspires to make a living out of the texts about people within the sports. Worships Hideki Matsui, but not New York Yankees anymore.
You can follow him on Twitter as @fmaditomo or Instagram as @iniaditomo.
