FN

The Initials

Before every game, Manny Machado traces the letters FN in the dirt at third base. They stand for Francisco Nunez, his grandfather, who raised him in Hialeah alongside his mother Rosa and uncle Geovanny Brito. Nunez woke him at 6 a.m. with warm milk and talked about bunting, about being a complete player. He went to bed early and missed the night games, so Machado would knock on his door afterward to report how he'd done. Nunez died on Christmas Eve 2009 — months before the Orioles took Machado third overall in the 2010 draft out of Brito Miami Private School, before the $5.25 million bonus, before any of it.

The Count

On May 22 of this season, Machado collected his 2,100th career hit. He debuted in Baltimore in August 2012 and won a Gold Glove and the Platinum Glove the next year. He spent seven seasons with the Orioles, one with the Dodgers in 2018, and the last eight in San Diego, where he has twice been named team MVP. Fifteen seasons, 2,016 games, 7,878 at-bats. He has 392 home runs, 416 doubles, 1,214 RBI, and a .275 average. Seven All-Star teams. Three Silver Slugger awards. He represents the Dominican Republic internationally and was Pool C MVP of the 2017 World Baseball Classic.

Across the Street

The uncle did the other work. Geovanny Brito lived across the street and came home from his job to hit grounders to Machado for hours — standing close, firing them hard enough to bruise. Machado hated chasing the balls, so he started aiming them to one spot, over and over, to make cleanup easier. At 16, he began training with Yonder Alonso, a Miami prospect at the time. The first session left him drained — squats he had never done properly, running, ground balls, hitting, more running. He came back the next day. They have worked out together ever since and later became brothers-in-law.

He is 34, still at third base for the Padres, with 96 hits in the books this season.

Reporting: The Players' Tribune, MLB.com, Wikipedia. Career and biographical data: MLB StatsAPI, via the Fever engine.