Texas A&M’s Nico Partida carries abuelo’s work ethic

The first pitches Texas A&M freshman shortstop Nico Partida ever saw rolled out of a Fisher-Price pitching machine in his backyard when he was 3 years old. A child’s game eventually became the latest chapter in a family’s story that began decades earliero, across borders and through labor-filled lives.

“Ever since I can remember I have had a baseball bat in my hands,” says Partida, who was introduced to baseball by his father, Neftali.

For Nico Partida to reach that backyard, a long history had to be written before he arrived at Texas A&M as one of the top rated freshmen in the SEC. His paternal grandfather Manuel Partida was born in Coahuila, Mexico, and raised in Tamaulipas in the 1930s. 

Manuel Partida lost his mother at a young age. His family had to support the ranch that provided their livelihood. Searching for opportunity, Manuel crossed the United States border between the ages of 13 and 15 and became a bracero.

Bracero’s grandson

Manuel Partida, who died in 2019, worked in the fields and held various labor jobs before returning to Mexico. He returned to the U.S. in the 1970s. Nico grew up listening to stories about how his grandfather worked from dawn to dusk. 

“It is just unbelievable how much hard work and grit came with this last name,” Nico says.

Neftali Partida was born in McAllen, Texas, and grew up in Los Ebanos, a small village best known for the Los Ebanos Ferry that crosses the Rio Grande into Mexico. Neftali, who is now a top lobbyist, grew up in poverty although he says he didn’t know it at the time. 

He credits his teachers with helping him. The elder Partida played third base through La Joya High School in the Rio Grande Valley. Using equipment that was passed down, Neftali fell in love with baseball in part because he excelled at it.

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Baseball was deeply rooted in the Partida family. An uncle Advento Soza played in the Mexican leagues and Sunday leagues. During visits to Reynosa, Mexico, Neftali watched the Broncos de Reynosa. He later traveled to Houston Astrodome to see the Astros, the team Nico grew up supporting. Sitting in the nosebleed seats, Neftali thought the Astrodome was the largest building in the world.

While baseball shaped much of his upbringing, education anchored it. Neftali’s older sister, Emelia, became the first in the family to attend college. Neftali attended the University of Texas at San Antonio, studying mass communication with a concentration in public relations and a minor in international business. 

Humble beginning

Neftali met his wife Katherine, an Aggie, during a work project in Dallas. 

“My dad grew up with nothing,” Nico says, “and it took so much for him to be where he is today. … Just being able to see my dad work hard every day to provide is the reason I do it.”

Neftali introduced baseball to Nico as a way to spend time together. Nico quickly turned it into something more. From the time he received the Fisher-Price plastic bats and balls, Nico wanted to play every day.

If Neftali said they were done hitting, Nico would ask for “one more, one more!” One more pitch usually led to 100 more. By the time Nico was 7, coaches began telling Neftali that his son was different and that his talent needed to be cultivated. He listened.

When Nico was around 10, Neftali read “The Matheny Manifesto” by former St. Louis Cardinals manager Mike Matheny. The book reshaped his role in his son’s development.

“That really allowed me as a dad to say, ‘Okay, I need to step back, because if he really loves it, then he has to pursue it,’” Neftali said. “The ambition needs to come from him, not from me. I really learned a lot from that book, and I let it be his thing. I learned that it is his passion that will lead him to greatness.”

Early baseball dreams

That ambition appeared early. In kindergarten, Nico wrote that he wanted to be a baseball player when he grew up. Neftali and Katherine Partida provided the resources Nico needed to play elite baseball beyond Little League. Nico played for Mizuno before joining Marucci Elite Texas, where MLB All-Star Adam Dunn oversees operations.

Nico said he did not fully understand how his family history shaped his life until he got older.

“To come home every day growing up with a meal on the table, whatever I needed for baseball, and a nice bed to sleep in,” Nico said, “it’s something I never truly grasped at that moment. But as I got older, I grew more appreciation for (my dad).”

The competition intensified quickly. At 13, Nico was holding his own against 15-year-olds. National teams reached out. His development accelerated in high school. He eventually joined the U-18 USA National Team.

What followed was a routine that confirmed Nico’s vision for himself. He woke before sunrise to hit in the batting cages. Then he went to school, completed team workouts, left campus for training, returned to the cages and then went home to sleep. Then he repeated the process the next day.

That routine became a lifestyle, born from a dream. That dream still exists in a childhood drawing of Nico wearing a Texas A&M uniform. While leading Pearland High to consecutive trips to the 6-A championship, Nico picked Texas A&M.

Following mom to Aggieland

“I felt so comfortable here,” he said of A&M. “I grew up an A&M fan because my mom went here. The coaching style was unbelievable. It also came down to culture and it being probably one of the best fan bases, if not the best fan base in the country.”

What Neftali appreciates most is his son’s even temperament when it comes to baseball. Ever since Nico was 7, his father has encouraged him to not get too high or too low playing a game that is defined by failure.

Nico Partida understands the jump from high school to college baseball is significant. He knows everything moves faster in college, especially the SEC. So, he focuses on slowing the game down and accepting failure as part of the process.

Now, Nico hopes to embrace the thousands of people supporting him and the opportunity to compete against elite players. As he looks back at the sacrifices made by his father and family to help him reach this point, Nico vows to “respect” the name on the back of his Texas A&M jersey.

“When it comes to representing it, it is me doing what they had to do in a different way,” he says. “They worked hard every day, and that is what I am going to do to appreciate that.”

So what will Neftali see when he watches his son take the field at Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park for the Aggies?

“He is standing on the shoulders of what I would call undocumented courage,” Neftali Partida says of his son. “Where people made the ultimate sacrifice, believed in the promise of the American dream, and fulfilled it.”