As I’ve posted before, my brother is a writer for MLB.com , and specifically as the beat writer for the BlueJays. (see me endangering my life to show my support this past season)
But with all the senior writers being busy with the World Series, my little brother Jordan, got to cover a major article, about the death of Joe Neikro.
I wanted to post the link to the article on my blog because I wanted to show off how great a writer my brother is.
I enjoy do enjoy baseball. If you drop by my house in the afternoon, you may find me tossing a ball at the pitchback in my backyard, a recent new habit when I just need time to think. I’d like to claim credit for teaching Jordan everything he knows about baseball since I AM his big brother, but he and I both know better. But I’m not a huge fan or follower of baseball, though I do really enjoy championship games, and especially when they are Chicago teams!
But I am always amazed how my brother can take a subject that usually isn’t of great interest to me, especially the death of a player I’d never heard of, and mingle in a bunch of otherwise unrelated facts, and craft it into an article that gets me engaged.
Now I have all these questions about this Niekro family. I learned about a dad who taught his boys a knuckleball pitch that he developed when he injured his pitching arm. A pitch that the older Niekro, Phil, used to build a very successful career, and one that he tossed his little brother during a game in 1976 so that the younger Joe could have his only home run in his twenty-two year career. I liked imagining the big brother, setting aside team rivalry when Joe came to the plate, to toss his little brother the “secret family pitch” so he could get that home run. Not that Joe wasn’t a good player, but his records were to be made on the mound, not at the plate. Then I learned that just oever ten years later, Joe’s eight year old son, Lance, a bat boy at the time, got to ride in a post-season celebration convertible with his dad…. and must have caught the baseball bug too, as he would later follow his dad and uncle into the major leagues.
All that to say – a good writer pulls you into a story that you otherwise would have no interest in, and leaves you wishing you knew more about the characters within.
Way to go little brother!
I wish I could say I taught him all he knew about writing too.
Go ahead, read the article yourself!
