Famous Athletes in the Family

My last post discussed one of the children of Magdalene Skerstonas Tamosaitis.   Magdelene had seven children.   This focuses on family members of one of Magdalene’s other children, her daughter, Marcella Tamosaitis Howard (b. Jul 1909, Watertown, CT d. Feb 1997 Elizabeth City, NC). Marcella and her husband, Claud Howard, are the parents of Bruce Howard.

NOTE:   Now there are unwritten rules about genealogical blogging about living relatives.  But I feel exceptions can be made for those relatives that have their own Wikipedia pages – since I would consider those among use with their own Wikepedia pages part of the public domain and I am only including the information on their Wikipedia pages….  So with that disclaimer….

We have a couple of baseball players in the family!  Here is Bruce’s official Major League Baseball information from his Wikipedia page:

 

Bruce Ernest Howard (born March 23, 1943) is a former pitcher in Major League Baseball who played from 1963 to 1968 for the Chicago White Sox, Baltimore Orioles, and Washington Senators. Listed at 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m), 180 lb., Howard was a switch-hitter and threw right-handed. A native of Salisbury, Maryland, he attended Villanova University. His son, David Howard, also played in the majors.

In a six-season career, Howard posted a 26–31 record with 349 strikeouts and a 3.18 ERA in 120 appearances, including seven complete games, four shutouts, one save, and 528 ⅔ innings of work.

Bruce’s son, David Howard, was also a Major League Baseball player and has his own Wikipedia page as well:

David Wayne Howard (born February 26, 1967 in Sarasota, Florida), is field coordinator of minor league instruction for the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball, and a former utility player in MLB who played from 1991 through 1999 for the Kansas City Royals (1991–97) and St. Louis Cardinals (1998–99). Listed at 6 feet (1.8 m) and 175 lb. (80 kg), he was a switch-hitter and threw right-handed. His father, pitcher Bruce Howard, also played in the majors.

 Howard was a solid utilityman, being able to play all infield and outfield positions, and also had the ability to serve as emergency pitcher. His most productive season came in 1996, when he posted career-numbers in games (143), runs (51), hits (92), extrabases (23) and RBI (48), while hitting a .243 batting average. In a nine-season career, Howard was a .229 hitter (362-for-1583) with 11 home runs and 148 RBI in 645 games, including 169 runs, 57 doubles, 14 triples, and 23 stolen bases.

 In 2004, he joined the Red Sox as a minor league coach in the Boston farm system before becoming a scout. He moved into their front office at the close of the 2007 season, spending 2008–09 as special assistant to Boston general manager Theo Epstein. He succeeded Rob Leary as field coordinator in 2010.

We'll see if I uncover any other family members with athletic skill as I continue to research the family   I can tell you - I have none although my 5'9" and growing 14 year old son seems to be a pretty good golfer...  

Remember if you think you are a Skerstonas relative and would like access to the Geni.com family tree please just e-mail me.  You can also send along any ideas for family stories to include as I continue to blog...   I have a list of ideas - but would love to add yours....