Semi-Famous Nephew

It’s easy to name off fathers and sons who played baseball, siblings too.  I could make a huge list of players in those two categories with no Google and no Baseball Reference.  However, for this post I am going to be working with an uncle and nephew combo, a little bit more difficult.

Probably the most famous pairs of uncles and nephews are Dwight Gooden (uncle) and Gary Sheffield (nephew), and Moises Alou is the nephew of Jesus and Matty Alou.  Dick Schofield, the 1980s Angels infielder, is the uncle of longtime Phillies and Nationals outfielder Jayson Werth.  Dick Schofield's is father, also Dick Schofield, played for the Pirates and Cardinals in the 1950s and 60s.

Also one of my favorite Cardinals players from the 1990s had an uncle who played baseball, but I am not sure that this is a notable uncle-nephew duo.  Well, the uncle.  The nephew was a really good player.

Ray Lankford's uncle was none other than Astros and Orioles backup catcher Carl Nichols.

True story.

Which brings me to a pair of new baseball card.  I do not write much about Alex Rodriguez.  I think the last time I did write about him it was during his steroid suspension and I was excited that all of the $100 ARod cards were now $20 cards.  That was a fabulous time, not that he was suspended, but that his cards plummeted in value.  Really helped out with finishing off some sets.

Welp, believe it or not, ARod has a nephew.  Pretty shocking stuff.  I even found a picture of the two of them, we were all at the same football game.  Meaning me, Alex Rodriguez, and his nephew. No word on J-Lo.  ARod's picture via Instagram....

Alex Rodriguez was standing in one end zone, meanwhile down the sideline in the other end zone....

I was watching my Wolfpack lose to Alex Rodriguez's Miami Hurricanes.  Did he even graduate from there?  I am guessing no.  

At least ARod did not wear some Miami junk to the game, his nephew is wearing the red NC State polo shirt on the right.  I kind of think that Don Mattingly is standing to left.  His nephew actually played for the baseball team at NC State the last few years.  Pretty nice player who ended up getting drafted by the Marlins last year.  

Meet Joe Dunand.  

I know the whole "He's Alex Rodriguez's nephew" has been played up in some circles, both during his time playing for the Wolfpack in Raleigh, and since he entered the Minors.  I think Dunand's a decent prospect, certainly worth watching, but I am not going to go crazy over him just because he is related to someone else who was really good at playing baseball.  Remember Dale Berra.  

Once, I got another Joe Dunand card from a Leaf Perfect Game product.

Huge jersey swatch, nice autograph, and I paid next to nothing for this card.  I actually set my budget sort of low for this card, but there used to be copies of this card with huge patch pieces floating around for less than $20.  My copy cost me slightly more than $5 shipped.  I found it hard to pay $20ish for someone in college who is not a slam dunk as a professional.  There is one of these on COMC right now for $70.  Should have bought the $20 one and sold it.  Shrug.  

Dunand had a Bowman card last year. The colored parallels sell for a decent amount of money considering that he has been playing in Double A for the last month and he is hitting .129.  Someone even recently paid $100 for one of the printing plates for his Bowman card.

No bueno and I place the blame squarely on "He's Alex Rodriguez's nephew".  It has hindered my ability to add anymore Dunand cards to my collection.  Whether he makes the Majors, or not, he was still a good player at NC State and worthy of some cards in my collection.

Luckily, Panini has stepped up with a few Dunand cards.  I love that they have a licensing agreement with the NCAA and can make cards with players in their college uniforms.  Dunand had a few cards last year in the Extra Elite Contenders set, including two autographs.  I have had an eye on the two autographs for awhile and I was finally able to land a copies of his cards.

This is a nice looking card.....

I wish that the picture showed his NC State uniform a little better, but I like how the red pops out against the grayish/silver background.  Both of his autographs use this same picture.  The other card looks a lot like a Dennis Smith card that I picked up in January.  Like the Smith autograph, this Dunand hails from the Contenders product.  Well, this is the baseball version.  

Again, same picture as the card up top, which seems a little bit lazy.  The other big difference between the two Dunand cards is the fact that the top card, out of the Elite set, is signed on-card.  The Contenders card is a sticker.  You can see the outline of the sticker on the scan.  Overall, happy to have added a pair of cards from a good player out of NC State, regardless of his uncle.