2-year wait to throw 1st pitch at Pirate game ending for Butler’s Nebel
Talk about your unique gifts.
During the 2019 Christmas holidays, Mike Nebel opened a present that contained a baseball with an inscribed message: He would be throwing out the ceremonial first pitch at a 2020 Pittsburgh Pirates game.
His niece’s husband, Grant Fleming, played in a golf outing involving Pirates Charities and one of the prizes up for bidding in an auction afterward was the opportunity to throw out the first pitch at a game.
“I knew Mike was a big fan and this was something he’d enjoy doing,” Fleming said. “So I decided to win that bid and get him that moment.”
Nebel, now 58, has Down Syndrome. His sister, Karen, is his caretaker. They are two of 13 siblings with Mike being the youngest.
Karen was to be Mike’s catcher on the field at PNC Park before the game.
When COVID-19 hit and Major League Baseball’s 2020 season was curtailed to 60 games, Nebel did not get his first-pitch opportunity. His game was to be on July 19 of that year and the season didn’t start until after that date. The 2021 season allowed only a limited number of fans into each game, so the first-pitch opportunity went by the boards again.
This year, the family decided to go for it.
“We reached out to the Pirates and they were very accommodating about making it happen this season,” Karen Nebel said.
Mike and Karen Nebel will form the pre-game battery Saturday night when the Pirates host the San Diego Padres on a Fireworks Night.
“I imagine they will have a big crowd that night,” Fleming said. “It should be pretty exciting.”
The Nebel family will comprise a nice chunk of the fan base that evening.
“There will be 32 of us seated in the club boxes behind the plate,” Fleming said. “There may be a few more scattered around. We’re all looking forward to this.”
Karen said Mike has been practicing his pitches and playing catch with her in the backyard when the weather has been cooperative.
“I have a couple of Pirate flags I hang back there for background when we’re playing catch, just to get into the spirit of everything,” Karen Nebel said. “He’s taking this whole thing in stride. I don’t think he’s going to be nervous at all when we’re out there ... I’m the one who’s going to have to hold it together.”
Major League Baseball rules prohibit anyone on the field at a big league ballpark who has not been vaccinated. This Nebel duo has taken care of that detail.
“We’ve gotten both of our boosters,” Nebel said. “We have to show our vaccination cards to get access to the field.”
She said Mike won’t be pitching from the mound — but he will be looking to throw a strike.
“We’ve been Pirate fams for a long time,” Nebel said. “This will be his moment and I’m thrilled for him.”
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