Identical Twin Umpires Just Fulfilled a Lifelong Dream

Baseball history was made Wednesday in Baltimore as twins hit the field at Oriole Park, though neither was playing. Identical twins Austin and Tyler Jones became the first pair of twin umpires to work the same Major League game, handling the Blue Jays-Orioles doubleheader at Camden Yards. Austin took first base and Tyler second in Game 1, then they swapped for Game 2, both Orioles wins, per MLB.com. They're just the fourth set of brothers to officiate in the majors, per USA Today.

The South Carolina natives started as Little League umpires at 15, went to umpire school at 18, and started calling in the pros in 2014, eventually working on the same crew for a Gulf Coast League game. Now 31, both are Triple-A umps who get occasional MLB assignments, per NBC News. Last year, supervisors promised to get them on the same MLB crew if schedules allowed. Still, Tyler says it was a "shock" to get a last-minute call from Austin, telling him he was driving from Charleston to Baltimore to join him on Wednesday, allowing their families to watch them work all 18 innings. "This is something we've dreamed about forever," Tyler tells MLB.com, adding their time together in the locker room, including some games of cards, was "probably the best part."