Growing up near San Diego, Garrett and C.J Stubbs used to play baseball in the backyard. Then the brothers, who are both catchers, played against each other. Now they’re teammates on Team Israel in the World Baseball Classic.
Garrett, who plays for the Philadelphia Phillies, said at a press conference at the World Baseball Classic on Saturday in Miami that the brothers have talked about growing up together “quite a bit” that week, “which has been really fun for us.”
“Those backyard games growing up as a kid, getting to actually do it on a stage that you dreamt about is a pretty incredible feat,” he said. “I think both of us have just discussed the backyard dream finally coming true on a big World Baseball Classic stage. It’s pretty awesome.”
Garrett and C.J., who is part of the Toronto Blue Jays organization, are sharing catching duties in addition to last names in this year’s tournament.
The brothers faced each other once they both became professional ballplayers, and C.J. said that he didn’t like that he had to hope that his brother lost.
“We’ve played against each other a couple times now in the past couple years, and it’s nice not having to root against him in these at-bats coming up,” C.J. said at the press conference.
“Even though I hit a homer,” Garrett responded.
“He did hit a homer, and everyone thought I told him the pitch, so that wasn’t good,” C.J. said. “But yeah, it’s a dream come true.”
Both brothers had bar mitzvahs, as their mother, Marti Gellens-Stubbs, who is Jewish, made her religion part of their upbringing. Their father, T. Pat Stubbs, is Catholic, and Garrett said that they celebrated Christmas and Easter in addition to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
Playing on Team Israel is an “opportunity that we’re given to be Jewish Americans and represent that heritage that we grew up with,” Garrett said. “We get to represent being Jewish and go out there and have some fun on a baseball field with other baseball Jewish Americans, so it’ll be fun.”
C.J. recalled “showing up to Hebrew school in my baseball uniform and just looking back on those times and seeing how far we’ve taken being a Jewish American.”
“Now playing in the WBC and working then and now—it’s something special,” he said.
“I’m sure the other kids in class didn’t like it when we showed up stinky and sweaty to Hebrew school,” Garrett said.
He acknowledged that most Jews are not renowned for their ball-playing abilities.
“We’re not necessarily known as the most athletic bunch,” he said. “So getting to be on the same team on a field full of Jewish players is really fun, getting to know each other, getting to see the different backgrounds of where everyone grew up.”
