BY MISSY ZIELINSKI
Despite being veteran players of the game of baseball,
Southern Maryland Blue Crabs infielder Brandon Jones and Long Island Ducks infielder
Bryant Nelson had never met on the same field once in their entire playing
career until May 17, 2013. While this is a common occurrence for a majority of
the players on the Blue Crabs and Ducks, their situation was unique. The two
are brothers.
“It was a learning experience for me,” said Jones, 31, after
the weekend series against Long Island (May 17-19) and his brother. “I think
this was the first time in my career that I was actually nervous and it showed.
I played horribly, but thankfully we got the win.”
In the game Jones committed his 11th error of the
season as his brother witnessed from the opposing dugout. Luckily it was all in
good fun as the two met to talk of the experience the following afternoon.
“Lunch on Saturday consisted more of listening than eating,
I caught an earful!”
The lunchtime lecturing was something that Jones had grown
accustomed to in his relationship with his brother, as he and Nelson grew up
with an eight-year difference between them. Starting with their childhood and
beyond Jones had taken on the apprentice role.
“I spent most of my days trying to go wherever and do
whatever Bryant was doing,” said Jones of their early years together. “He spent
most days telling me what I was not supposed to do or where I wasn’t supposed
to go. I hated to hear that.”
It was also the same situation on the baseball diamond.
“During the week, I’d be at baseball parks watching my
brother play and just waiting for my chance to play,” said Jones. “He’d remind
me every step of the way that I could not beat him and that always fueled the
competition. I think sometimes its more so me being competitive with my big
brother.”
When Jones finally did play “their career took totally
different paths.” In addition to his baseball career, Jones experimented in the
college basketball realm with the Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions before
“roaming the Indy leagues.”
Nelson on the other hand took a different route. The
39-year-old spent just 25 games during the 2002 season with the Boston Red Sox
of Major League Baseball, recording a .265 average with six runs and two RBIs.
Yet he still had the career that Jones “could only dream of” as he spent seven
of his 20 career seasons playing as high as Triple A with the Houston Astros,
Chicago Cubs, Arizona Diamondbacks, Pittsburgh Pirates, Red Sox, Chicago White
Sox and Toronto Blue Jays organizations. In 1,949 career games, Nelson has a
lifetime average of .285 with 1,045 runs, 2,125 hits, 663 extra-base hits and
1,091 RBIs.
Jones, who’s played in such independent leagues as the
Northern League, American Association, Frontier League and the North American
League, before joining the Atlantic League for the first time in 2013, has
appeared in a little less than half the seasons his brother Bryant has played
in.
While the two have found themselves with two completely
different stories to tell, one key component has given them an undying bond –
baseball.
“Baseball has given my brother and I another reason to spend
time together and share experiences,” Jones said. “Clearly he has the most
knowledge of the game, but he never hesitates to share it with me and that’s
great.”
The mid-May series against the Ducks also gave the 6’2”
always-smiling Jones a reason to revive the two’s competitive edge and offer
some advice to his big brother.
“All I could say to my brother is ‘get faster man.’ I
honestly think I can beat him running, but we will race one day,” said Jones.
That day to race will have to wait until the two meet again.
The series at Regency Furniture Stadium against their division rival and sibling
rival was the first for the brothers, but also the last – for now. Just two
weeks after the two got to play each other for the first time, Jones was traded
to the American Association. With each player unable to predict that they’d be
playing one another this May, it’s difficult to predict when their next meeting
will be. But for this pair of baseball brothers, their meeting on May 17 in
Waldorf ensures that they will always share a common bond with America’s
pastime.
