As a kid and future pitcher growing up in Sacramento, you’d think that Pirates righty Nick Mears (@NickMears46) would be a Giants fan, with that fearsome rotation of Madison Bumgarner, Barry Zito, and Tim Lincecum among others, right?
Wrong.
He grew up as a Red Sox fan. He idolized Pedro Martinez and modeled himself after Joe Kelly (“he threw harder than me”). He credits his dad, who loved Carl Yastremski, for his fandom.
These days, though, he’s a proud Bucco who had his major league dream come true this past August 8th, when he was brought up from Altoona to pitch against the Tigers (he has Derek Shelton’s lineup card to prove it).