Edward Joseph O'Brien (December 11, 1930 – February 21, 2014) was an American

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists wh ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to c ...

and

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

. He played his entire five-year baseball career for the Pittsburgh Pirates (1953, 1955–58). His twin brother,

Johnny Johnny is an English language personal name. It is usually an affectionate diminutive of the masculine given name John, but from the 16th century it has sometimes been a given name in its own right for males and, less commonly, females. Varian ...

, is a former second baseman and pitcher. O'Brien attended Saint Mary's High School in South Amboy, later known as

Cardinal McCarrick High School Cardinal McCarrick High School (CMHS), later known as Cardinal McCarrick/St. Mary's High School, was a Catholic secondary school located in South Amboy, New Jersey, that operated under the supervision of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Metuchen. ...

, where he was inducted into the school's sports hall of fame. O'Brien attended Seattle University, where he played on the basketball team for the Chieftains (along with his brother Johnny) and participated in a stunning 84–81 upset over the Harlem Globetrotters on January 21, 1952. He and Johnny were drafted by the NBA's

Milwaukee Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays its home games at ...

in 1953, but they never played in the NBA. While in Pittsburgh, Johnny and Eddie O'Brien became the first twins in major league history to play for the same team in the same game. They are also one of only four brother combinations to play second base/shortstop on the same major league club. The others are Garvin and Granny Hamner, for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1945;

Frank Frank or Franks may refer to: People * Frank (given name) * Frank (surname) * Franks (surname) * Franks, a medieval Germanic people * Frank, a term in the Muslim world for all western Europeans, particularly during the Crusades - see Farang Curr ...

and

Milt Bolling Milton Joseph Bolling (August 9, 1930 – January 19, 2013) was a shortstop in Major League Baseball who played from 1952 through 1958 for the Boston Red Sox (1952–1957), Washington Senators (1957) and Detroit Tigers (1958). Bolling batted a ...

, with the Detroit Tigers in 1958, and Billy and

Cal Ripken Calvin Edwin Ripken Jr. (born August 24, 1960), nicknamed " The Iron Man", is an American former baseball shortstop and third baseman who played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Baltimore Orioles (1981–2001). One of his posit ...

, for the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...

during the 1980s. In

Jim Bouton James Alan Bouton (; March 8, 1939 – July 10, 2019) was an American professional baseball player. Bouton played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a pitcher for the New York Yankees, Seattle Pilots, Houston Astros, and Atlanta Braves between 1 ...

's book ''

Ball Four ''Ball Four'' is a book written by former Major League Baseball pitcher Jim Bouton (1939-2019) in 1970. The book is a diary of Bouton's 1969 season, spent with the Seattle Pilots and then the Houston Astros following a late-season trade. In it, ...

'', a memoir of the 1969 baseball season, O'Brien—who in that year had served as bullpen coach for the Seattle Pilots expansion club—was represented as Bouton's consistent antagonist. O'Brien also worked as the

Athletic Director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches an ...

at Seattle University and as an energy consultant for the Alaskan shipping industry. On February 21, 2014, O'Brien died at the age of 83.

References

External links

Retrosheet
{{DEFAULTSORT:Obrien, Eddie 1930 births 2014 deaths All-American college men's basketball players Major League Baseball shortstops Major League Baseball bullpen coaches Milwaukee Hawks draft picks People from South Amboy, New Jersey Pittsburgh Pirates players Seattle Redhawks baseball players Seattle Redhawks men's basketball players Seattle Pilots coaches Baseball players from New Jersey Sportspeople from Middlesex County, New Jersey American men's basketball players