Flashback Friday: 4 Cleveland Browns with a brother on Indians

The Gronkowskis: Gordie and Dan

Gordon Gronkowski, Jr. played baseball for the Lake Erie Crushers in nearby Avon in 2009.  Gordie was big enough to play football at 6-6 and 250 pounds. However, he was a power-hitting first baseman who played college ball at Jacksonville University and was good enough to be drafted by the Los Angeles Angels. One thing that hurt him was that he did not get his start in pro ball until age 23.

That’s the age at which most prospects start to fossilize. After three years with the Angels, he was released but still had some baseball left him. Hence, he wound up playing with the Lake Erie Crushers.

Gordie put up impressive numbers at Lake Erie. In 311 at-bats, he slugged 19 home runs and 79 runs batted in and a batting average of .305. That is not too shabby, but at age 26 he was not able to reconnect with an MLB team. He retired after the 2011 season. He had hit for average but not power that year (.302 but with only 2 homers in 106 at-bats).

Gordie’s younger brother Dan Gronkowski was a tight end for the 2011 Browns. Previously he had had gigs with the Lions, Broncos and Patriots, with a total of 9 catches for 69 yards, and also played special teams. He got into two games for the Browns after coming over in mid-season from the Patriots.

Dan played college ball at Maryland. He was a starting tight end, and was also a three-time nominee for Academic All American. There are definitely some brains in that family as well as brawn.

Dan, with help from his brothers, has started a line of fitness products which naturally enough is called Gronk Fitness Products.

Believe it or not, there were other Gronkowskis who also played in the NFL. Chris Gronkowski was a fullback who also played linebacker at the University of Arizona.  He was also Second Team All-Pac-10 Academic Football Team. He played 35 games in the NFL as a fullback and even caught a touchdown pass from Tony Romo. That sounds like a very nice NFL career, all in all.

Glenn Gronkowski played fullback for the Buffalo Bills in 2016, but just one game.

The person I feel sorry for is their Mom, Diane Walters.  Can you imagine having to feed all those huge athletes? Football players know how to eat, that is for sure.  That family probably had to have their very own Kroger’s.  But somehow she got everyone into college, where they excelled academically as well as in sports.

Let’s see, did we forget anyone? Oh yes, there was one other brother who had a slight modicum of success with the Patriots.

Rob played for New England and was briefly joined by Dan before Dan went on to greater glory and prestige by joining the Cleveland Browns.  But of course, for Browns fans, our favorite Gronks have got to be Gordon and Dan.  Sorry, Rob!