Oh, brother: Nicky Delmonico makes another Fenway Park memory with oldest sibling

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BOSTON — Nicky Delmonico’s brother might not have been on hand for his first career homer on Thursday night had he not looked at the upcoming schedule.

Much like most of the family, Joey Delmonico had spent the previous two days in Chicago to watch his younger brother make his major league debut with the White Sox on Tuesday night. He’d made the trip from Florida to see the first two games and share in the excitement, including watching Nicky Delmonico’s first big league hit. But once they noticed where the White Sox were headed, Joey and his wife, Monica, knew they had to come to Fenway Park.

One of baseball’s most storied venues also happens to be the site of the last game the two siblings attended as fans back in 2003. On Thursday, Nicky made Fenway Park even more memorable to the pair when he blasted the first home run of his career in a 9-5 White Sox loss to the Boston Red Sox.

“We were Red Sox fans and we wanted to see the Green Monster,” Joey Delmonico said. “That was the last game me and Nicky went to because we’ve been traveling and went to college. All of us have our summer schedules.

“When we were in Chicago, I looked at the schedule and was like, they’re going to Fenway.

“The fact that Nicky was able to play the Green Monster and play left field, it was so surreal. And after that home run, talk about emotions going wild. We couldn’t even contain it. You can’t write this stuff.”

Nicky Delmonico barely remembers the moment it went by so quickly. Having singled in his first at-bat against Rick Porcello, Delmonico felt a little more comfort when he stepped to the plate in the third inning with the White Sox trailing 7-2. With two on and two outs, Porcello left a first-pitch curveball up and Delmonico hammered it — the exit velo was 105.5 mph — 380 feet for a three-run homer to deep right.

“I made solid contact with it, and I don’t know, I went too fast around the bases,” Nicky Delmonico said. “It didn’t really register that I did it. But it was awesome. It was a great feeling.”

So, too, was calling his brother to let him know about the promotion late Monday night.

Joey Delmonico said he received the call at 11:37 p.m. EST and they immediately began to plan the trip. More than two hours later, he had to remind Nicky to try and rest.

Given all his brother has overcome to reach this point, Joey Delmonico, who played collegiately at Georgia, didn’t want to miss a moment. He and Monica knew they had to extend their trip for a few more days. The homer only made it that much more special.

Nicky Delmonico said he was able to get the ball back and intends to autograph it and give it to his oldest brother.

“If you’d have seen me midgame you would have seen me, with emotions man, we couldn’t contain it,” Joey Delmonico said. “We were in the stands. That’s my best friend, my little baby brother. I love that kid more than anything. This is so surreal. Everything is like, ‘Wake me up, this is a dream.’ And the first home run at Fenway? Come on.

“When we found out Fenway was coming up we had to come here.”

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