Love blossoms on page one

All Jerry Berrios of the Miami Herald wanted was some help on her story. But she wound up getting much more when she turned to her fellow reporter Kevin Baxter.

The 36-year-old regularly covers Hispanic affairs in Broward County for the Miami paper, but had to seek Baxter out to get some quotes for an October story on Ozzie Guillén, the first Latin American to manage a team in the World Series. Baxter, 46, had the press credentials to meet the Venezuelan-born Guillén in Chicago while covering the World Series. She was so grateful she insisted giving him a “mercy byline,” putting his name next to hers on the story.

Now, Berrios and Baxter plan to permanently put their names side by side; the two will wed on Jan. 14, 2007.

Her story on Guillén ran on page one on Oct. 22, 2005, bumping a story Baxter was doing on the same day about the upcoming World Series. She felt so bad that she called the next day to apologize to him for knocking his story off the front page.

“He made me laugh,” she said. The two started going out. They clicked so strongly that on the third date Berrios asked him to marry her.

The two plan a wedding in Sarasota, Florida.

“I’m excited for my new family,” Berrios said. “On my wedding day I’ll have a husband, a stepson and a dog named ‘Closer.’” In keeping with the baseball theme, the dog is named for pitchers called in the 9th inning to win the game, or “closers.”

The bride-to-be advises NAHJ journalists to apply the skills of the trade to their personal life. “Check the facts and trust your instincts.”

-Nadia Rivera Nieves