Inside The Rangers

Rangers Star Josh Jung Celebrate Unique Mother’s Day with Pre-Game Gift

For Texas Rangers star Josh Jung and his brother, Jace Jung, the stars aligned perfectly to honor their mother, Mary, on Sunday at Comerica Park.

Matthew Postins

May 1, 2025; Arlington, Texas, USA; Texas Rangers third baseman Josh Jung (6) throws out Athletics catcher Jhonny Pereda (not pictured) during the fifth inning at Globe Life Field.
May 1, 2025; Arlington, Texas, USA; Texas Rangers third baseman Josh Jung (6) throws out Athletics catcher Jhonny Pereda (not pictured) during the fifth inning at Globe Life Field. / Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
In this story:

DETROIT — The talk all weekend has been the matchup between Texas Rangers third baseman Josh Jung and his younger brother, Detroit Tigers third baseman Jace Jung.

Well, on Sunday everything got turned up a notch. Their family has been in town all weekend, but Sunday was Mother’s Day, which means the day was all about their mom, Mary.

The brothers’ parents, Mary and Jeff Jung, have been in town since before Friday, when the Rangers arrived to face the Tigers in a three-game series. They’ve taken in all three games and on Sunday, there were gifts.

Before the game, Josh and Jace gathered with mom and dad in front of the Rangers’ dugout on the first-base side and they presented her with a pink baseball bat in honor of the day. The bat featured the logos for both teams, along with the game’s date and Mary’s name on the barrel.

Along with that, Mary was presented with an authentic jersey split down the middle — one side was Rangers blue and the other side was Tigers white with the iconic gothic ‘D.’ The back had each of her son’s numbers and their last name. She had worn a variation on the jersey all weekend. Texas wore their traditional gray uniforms on Friday and Saturday.

Then, the Tigers asked Mary to deliver the game ball to the pitcher’s mound, where her sons joined her for another round of photos.

Both Josh and Jace started for the second straight game and became the eighth set of brothers to play against each other on Mother’s Day since 1969. The last set to do it were Yuli Gurriel of Houston and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. of Toronto in 2021.

Also on that list? Joe Niekro and Phil Niekro, who pitched against one another on May 11, 1980, as Joe’s Houston Astros faced Phil’s Atlanta Braves.

The quirky part? Rangers manager Bruce Bochy was Houston’s backup catcher for that game.

“What a cool deal, especially for the mom,” Bochy said. “She’ll get to see both of her boys out there. That it’s on Mother’s Day, that just makes it more special.”

Both brothers were in the starting lineup on Saturday when the Rangers won, 10-3. Both talked with reporters all weekend about the competitiveness between the pair. They took it to a new level during that game.

As Rangers Sports Network pointed out, the pair were playing their own game of tic-tac-toe while they were playing third base.

Earlier in the week, Josh said the last time the pair had played on the diamond together was during a 2019 Texas Tech intrasquad scrimmage. Josh had been selected No. 8 overall by the Rangers and Jace was an incoming freshman. Before that, he said the last time the pair were on the same team was in high school at San Antonio MacArthur, when Josh was a senior and Jace was a freshman.

They are just one of 456 sets of brothers that have played Major League Baseball.

“It’s super cool for us, it’s super cool for the family,” Josh said. “It’s all encompassing. It’s truly remarkable. It’s amazing.”

Recommended Articles

feed

Published
Matthew Postins
MATTHEW POSTINS

Matthew Postins is an award-winning sports journalist who covers Major League Baseball for OnSI. He also covers the Big 12 Conference for Heartland College Sports.

Home/News