Son of a Major Leaguer

How a son passes on the legacy of his MLB dad

Courtesy of the Sadek family

Mike Sadek Jr. is working on a baseball card collection. While that may not sound like a particularly unique hobby, Sadek Jr.’s collection has a personal bent. The PSA-graded cards he’s putting together to pass along to his sons one day feature his father, former San Francisco Giants catcher Mike Sadek.

I first learned of Sadek’s quest to collect his father’s cards on Reddit. In January, I reached out to chat with him about his father, his childhood as the son of a Major Leaguer, and his collection.

A Father in the Major Leagues

Sadek family photo. Courtesy of Mike Sadek Jr.

Mike “The Sheik” Sadek began his professional baseball career in 1967, when he was drafted by the Minnesota Twins. He played with a Twins’ minor league affiliate and then later with the Giants’ AAA team in Phoenix (where Sadek Jr. was born). He was first called up to the San Francisco Giants in 1973 and began his more permanent stint with the team in 1975. Sadek would spend the entirety of his eight-year MLB career as a catcher with the team.

Though Sadek was never a starter for the Giants, his likeable spirit left an impression - so much so that in 1999, when a group of 100 members of the Bay Area media voted for their All-Decade Giants team, they named Sadek as catcher of the 70s in a team that included Bobby Bonds, Willie Mays, and Willie McCovey. Such was the impact of Sadek’s reputation around the clubhouse. Sadek’s sense of fun may have even lengthened his career, according to his son. “I think he played an extra year or two simply because he was that glue in the clubhouse,” Sadek Jr. says, “He kept people loose. Everybody loved him.”

A Quieter Life

Mike Sadek sitting behind his desk in his office. Courtesy of Mike Sadek Jr.

Apparently, having a Major Leaguer as a father isn’t quite as wonderful as kids might imagine. According to Mike Sadek Jr., as a young child, he wasn’t a baseball fan at all. “[Baseball] was just what took my dad away from me for two weeks at a time. It wasn't until he retired from playing that I truly appreciated what he did for a living. ”

Mike Sadek retired from playing in 1981 to take custody of Sadek Jr. and his sister. At the time, a father taking custody of his children was an uncommon enough occurrence that the story made its way onto the news (television and print). Though he retired from playing that year, Sadek remained with the Giants organization until 1999 in varied roles in community services and as a scout. As Sadek Jr. says, “I was born in '71. The Giants fed me until I was 18.” 

Though Sadek Jr. wasn’t the biggest fan of baseball while his father was an active player, he quickly became a fan once he could sit in the stadium and watch a game with his father at his side. In fact, he became a mega-fan and stayed that way for years. “It wasn't until I started getting the gray hairs that I realized that, if the Giants lose, it shouldn't affect my life," Sadek Jr. shares. He still is a Giants fan, of course.

As a child, Sadek Jr. particularly loved Will Clark, Matt Williams, and Robbie Thompson. One memorable time (and in a different era of stadium security), young Sadek hopped onto the field before a game to give a lucky penny to Matt Williams. Williams responded by hitting a grand slam off Charlie Leibrandt, making sure to give young Sadek a big high five before heading back to the dugout. Such is the charmed life of the son of a former Major Leaguer with a father in the front office.

Tragedy struck the Sadek family when Mike Sadek’s daughter Nicole died in an accident. Sadek retired, withdrew from the public eye, and moved to the mountains to live a more secluded life. “He was done,” Sadek Jr. shares, “He stopped working in the front office the year before the Giants went to what was then known as Pac Bell Park - now Oracle Park. He retired with Candlestick Park in that way.” Sadek Sr. remained fairly isolated until Sadek Jr.’s first son was born in 2006. “That reinvigorated him,” Sadek Jr. says.

Sadek Jr. would have three sons, and Sadek Sr. became a big part of their lives. “Daily phone calls with Grandpa were a thing. I called him just to talk about sports and life. He was my best friend, but it was cool to just dial him up and hand the phone to the kids.” Sadek Sr., who worried about his family making the windy, winding drive up the mountain to visit him, would meet Sadek Jr. and his sons halfway in Stockton to have breakfast each month, keeping in close contact with his son and grandsons until he passed away in 2021.

Photograph of Memorial Screen for Mike Sadek at Oracle Park. Courtesy of Mike Sadek Jr..

A New Kind of Collection

Mike Sadek Jr. now owns his own collectible store, but he caught the collecting bug when he and his father collected Pete Rose and Don Mattingly cards in the 80s. The father-son duo then branched out into football, basketball, and even nabbed a baseball signed by Pope John Paul II that Sadek Sr. managed to get when the Pope was visiting Candlestick in 1987. (They sold it 12 years later for almost $40,000.)

But even though he has been a collector for most of his life, Sadek Jr. never went out of his way to acquire his father’s cards. “I just accumulated them,” he shares, “It wasn't until recently that I thought it’d make sense to collect Mike Sadek more than other players.” Sadek Jr. still has his father’s uniforms and other memorabilia, but centers his current collecting on PSA-graded Topps cards. As of our talk, Sadek Jr’s collection of his father’s cards is pretty much complete, but he has no desire to stop the hunt. “It's fun hunting for cards that aren't in high demand… unless you're trying to complete a top set in a high grade - then I'm probably someone's worst enemy on eBay.”

Sadek Jr.’s sons are 14, 16, and 18. They are not baseball fans (Sadek Jr. put them in Little League; they all “retired early”), but they understand the fun of collecting). Sadek Jr. believes they’ll understand the value of having their grandfather’s cards when he passes the collection down.

“He was very important to them, and we all miss talking to him on the phone, we all miss those breakfast visits. I haven't given it to them yet, but I will someday and I'm pretty proud of that. There's some history there. I don't know if they truly appreciate how special it is to have a Major League grandpa, but I don't even think it would matter because he was already a Major League grandpa to them.”

Photograph of Mike Sadek Jr. and sons, holding Sadek Jr.’s card collection. Courtesy of Sadek family.