7. Gus, Buddy and David Bell

Sport: Baseball    An remarkable three generations of line-drive hitters. Gus played outfield for 15 seasons in the National League beginning in 1950, mostly with Cincinnati. For 10 consecutive seasons, he reached double figures in homers, with a high of 30 in 1953. Four times he drove in at least 100 runs, and finished his career with a .281 average and 206 home runs. Gus was just an adequate outfielder, but son Buddy was a Gold Glove caliber third baseman -- winning the award six times -- for Cleveland, Texas and Cincinnati from 1972 until 1989. And here is an eerie set of stats: Buddy finished with a .279 lifetime average and 201 home runs, nearly identical to his father’s totals. Buddy’s son David struggled early after reaching the majors in 1995, but for the past two seasons, has shown double-digit home run power and grit if not efficiency at second and third. David’s big-league debut made the Bells baseball’s second third-generation family, but they get a higher rating than the Boones because Gus and Buddy were better hitters than Ray and Bob.