Ben Eldridge's grandson Bryce Eldridge tearing up the minors

No matter how much we achieve in life, it remains a special thrill to see our children or grandchildren excel in their own lives, careers, or families. It’s especially rewarding if they’ve gone into the same field as we have, and when that field is music, it’s fun for everyone.

We’ve seen a number of family legacies in bluegrass, from Earl Scruggs performing with his sons, down through The Reno Brothers, The McCourys, the Paisleys and Lundys, to legacies in the making like Chris Davis and his son, Gibson, and Danny and Andrea Roberts’ daughter, Jaelee, soaring with Sister Sadie.

DC bluegrass legends Seldom Scene scored two such family traditions, with John Starling’s son, Jay, now playing reso-guitar and singing with Leftover Salmon, and Ben Eldridge’s son, Chris, a professional guitarist of the highest order performing with Punch Brothers and others. While Ben and John are both gone from us now, we know that they took great pleasure seeing their boys do well in music.

Ben was, of course, quite proud of all his children and grandchildren, but watching Chris, also known in some circles as Critter, succeed in bluegrass and acoustic music was surely deeply fulfilling.

We have some news about his grandson, Bryce, that would have delighted Ben to no end. Bryce is a major league baseball player, something that his grandpa also loved as a young man, and which remained a passion throughout his life. But young Bryce stands a haed taller than the rest of the Eldridge family at 6’7”, and is an impressive athlete. And like his grandfather, he is a southpaw.

Ben lived long enough to see his grandson shine in youth baseball, and in high school, and be drafted in the first round in 2023 by the San Francisco Giants, the 16th overall pick. He has done well at every level, and just this week was promoted to the Sacramento River Cats, the Giants’ AAA affiliate in the Pacific Coast League. That’s the final step before the Big Show, where the Giants are having some issues at first base right now, the position where Bryce has been playing.

So it’s not impossible that we could see him there before the season is out.

We spoke with Chris Eldridge about his nephew doing so well, and he shared that both he and his dad were baseball fans, and that the whole family is beside themselves with pride over Bryce’s career.

“Dad did love baseball, and I think grew up seeing the Richmond Virginians before he moved away in 1958. He was apparently a good baseball player too. He used to tell stories about playing baseball with the neighborhood kids. They all seemed like happy memories.

Since DC didn’t have a professional baseball team from 1972-2005, going to games wasn’t a part of his or our life very much. He followed the Orioles a little, and occasionally would go to a game with Fred Travers, but Baltimore was two hours away from Fredericksburg, so we didn’t totally have that home team connection.

I never played baseball at all. Soccer and running were my main sports as a kid. But in April 2015 I tore my ACL, and after the surgery to repair it, I stayed in Fredericksburg for a month to convalesce. Recovery from knee surgery is pretty boring – you can’t do much – so it was fun that there was a Nationals game on nearly every day. Right around the time I started watching they started doing well – this was when Bryce Harper was taking off – and I got bitten by the baseball bug. I think I watched every game during that time.

Dad always said that football was fun to watch on TV, and boring to watch in real life, and baseball was the opposite – boring on TV and fun in real life. I loved it both ways, and we actually went to a game in early May. It was fun cheering on Bryce Harper, who hit two home runs that day.

It’s now very fun getting to watch and cheer on Bryce Eldridge as he goes on his journey. While Bryce doesn’t play music himself, he has been using Wait a Minute by the Seldom Scene as his walk-up music – a cool way to carry the family musical tradition onto the baseball field.

Dad was so unbelievably proud of him.”

We weren’t able to find any video of Bryce walking up to Wait A Minute, but thanks to Trey Wilson, Director of Communication & Broadcasting for the Richmond Flying Squirrels, where Eldridge had been playing before being called up to Sacramento, we can share this pre-game interview where the two discuss Ben, and using the song as a tribute to his grandfather.

Trey also sent this game clip, where the announcer refers to the inclusion of Wait A Minute, which always attracts attention, as it differs greatly from the sort of music most young players select.