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Just saying hello ...

Just saying hello ...


Hey team —

Wanted to take a moment to introduce myself before Pirates spring training and my rookie season on the beat get underway this week. Bill Brink and I are headed down Tuesday to Bradenton, Fla. That is a very exciting sentence indeed, considering it’s 1° right now in Pittsburgh.

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A bit about me:

• I cannot grow a proper mustache.

OK, that probably covers the important stuff.

Oh, I should also add that the J. middle initial is for James — same as my twin — and some people call me Nez. I allow it.

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I graduated from the University of Michigan in 2013 and joined the Post-Gazette to cover West Virginia and Duquesne, but my athletic background was in baseball, through and through. My older brothers and I fell for the game as soon as we could crawl. We lived in northern France then, and there were so few kids like us — outliers who picked baseball over soccer — that we’d have to drive an hour northeast, across the Belgian border, to the city of Mons and its sprawling NATO base (Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe) to play our first organized ball. We moved to Michigan in 1998, and my first Little League team was the “Pirates.” Imagine that! I played baseball through high school, and eventually I came around to write about it, instead. 

On the tombstone of my baseball career would be two words: defensive specialist. I wore that backhanded compliment of a label with pride.

My history with the Pittsburgh Pirates began in high school, I suppose. My chemistry teacher, Ben Lorson, was a Montoursville, Pa., native and a Pirates diehard. On Opening Day 2008, we struck a deal. He agreed to dedicate a far corner of the white board in his classroom to keep track of the Pirates’ and Detroit Tigers’ records. So, I’d walk into his classroom each morning, grab the blue and yellow markers and update the standings. Summer arrived, eventually, and mercifully relieved me of that daily duty — the Tigers finished 14 games under .500, the Pirates 28.

I finally attended my first Pirates game when I moved to Pittsburgh in the summer of 2012 to intern at the Post-Gazette. During my first week in town, my brother and I made the short hike from his place on North Avenue to PNC Park. Honestly, the primary draw that night was to see Washington Nationals rookie outfielder Bryce Harper’s Pittsburgh debut. He doubled off A.J. Burnett, scored and finished 1-for-4. It was a perfect night at the ballpark, and not just because of the sorbet sunset bouncing off the skyline. No, it was perfect because we, like true fans of the game, stayed until the bitter end and were richly rewarded. The Nationals scored twice in the top of the ninth to go up, 4-3, and the crowd of 10,323 began to slowly spill out onto Federal Street. It was a school night. But those who left missed Alex Presley’s one-out single, the Pirates’ fourth hit of the night, and the back-to-back wild pitches that sent the tying run to third.

Those who left missed this …

Not a bad show.

The Pirates were 13-16 when I got to Pittsburgh that summer, and they were 58-42 when I left. Once I left, they floundered and folded, as they used to do, and finished below .500 once again. They reached the playoffs in both seasons since my return. I’m not sayin’ I’m a good luck charm. I’m just sayin’.

Baseball is back, and I’m thrilled to be watching from the front lines. Many, many thanks for reading our stuff. Feel free to follow along on Twitter (Brink | Nesbitt) and Instagram (Brink | Nesbitt). I promise we’ll have a little fun along the way.

First Published: March 24, 2016, 5:05 p.m.

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