There are a handful of father-son duos in Major League Baseball history, including Ken Griffey Sr. and Ken Griffey Jr., Bobby and Barry Bonds, Cecil and Prince Fielder, and Vladimir Guerrero and Vladimir Guerrero Jr., to name a few.
What about father-son duos in the Caribbean Series? The Latin American tournament, which held its first edition in 1949, has strong family ties that have been passed down from one generation to the next.
Trei Cruz and José Cruz Jr.
Trei Cruz, the son of former MLB outfielder José Cruz Jr., is a shortstop in the Detroit Tigers minor league system. The younger Cruz played for the Leones de Ponce during the 2023-24 LBPRC winter season in Puerto Rico and was invited to represent the island at the 2024 Caribbean Series at loanDepotPark in Miami, Florida, with the Criollos de Caguas. Cruz recorded six plate appearances but did not reach base.
José Cruz Jr., who hit 204 home runs in his 12-year MLB career (1997-2008), was the Most Valuable Player of the 2000 Caribbean Series in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The Cangrejeros de Santurce, representing Puerto Rico, went a perfect 6-0, and Cruz thrived at the plate, hitting .385 with five doubles, eight runs, and 10 RBI. In 1999, Cruz Sr. played for the Indios de Mayaguez in the Caribbean Series in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
His father, José Cruz, enjoyed a 19-year MLB career, 13 with the Houston Astros, who retired his uniform No. 25 in 1992.
Robbie and Orlando Merced
Robbie Merced, a 25-year-old shortstop who played for the Tri-City Valleycats of the Frontier League in the summer of 2024 and in the LBPRC for the Indios de Mayaguez this winter, represented Puerto Rico in this year’s Caribbean Series in Mexicali, Mexico.
His father, Orlando, is the Indios’ first base coach and a former MLB outfielder and corner infielder. The elder Merced hit .277 with 103 home runs during his MLB career (1990-2003) and made the All-Tournament team while playing for the Criollos de Caguas in the 2003 Caribbean Series in Carolina, Puerto Rico. The Criollos and the Indios competed in 2003 because of political complications in Venezuela, which did not send a team to the tournament.
Moisès and Felipe Alou
Moisès Alou, who made six MLB All-Star appearances and won the 1997 World Series with the Florida Marlins, won the Caribbean Series as a player in 1990 with LIDOM’s Leones del Escogido at the Miami Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida. Alou became the general manager of the Leones in 2009, one year after he retired from MLB, and held the same role for the champion Dominican Republic in the 2013 World Baseball Classic.
Alou won three LIDOM championships in his first four seasons as general manager of the Leones (2009-10, 2011-12, 2012-13), including two Caribbean Series championships in 2010 and 2012.
Alou’s father, Felipe, is a former three-time MLB All-Star who won National League Manager of the Year in 1994 while leading the Montreal Expos. Alou, inducted into the Caribbean Baseball Hall of Fame in 2016, played in the Dominican Republic for the Leones del Escogido during the 1957-58 and 1958-59 seasons and was the manager of the Leones during their title run in the 1990 Caribbean Series.
Other Notable Father-Son Caribbean Series Duos
All Accomplishments Listed May Not be the Player’s/Manager’s Full History in the Caribbean Series
