Former Enquirer cartoonist Jim Borgman set to throw first pitch at Reds' game vs. Pirates next week

The Enquirer's renowned former cartoonist Jim Borgman is returning to the Queen City and stepping up to the Reds' pitching mound.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist is throwing the first pitch at the Reds' game against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday, June 25. His brother, fellow Cincinnati native Tom Borgman, will step in as catcher.

Borgman said he was "flabbergasted" when he was pitched the idea.

"It's just gonna be a thrill to be on the field and for a brief moment to look up into the stands and pretend that I'm in the major leagues," he said.

He accredits his daughter, Chelsea Borgman, for helping organize his Reds debut.

"It's a gift of a lifetime that she's making this happen," he said. "All the favorite things I've drawn in the past few years have been with the Reds radio (playing) in the background."

The game starts at 7:10 p.m. and the first pitch will be thrown around 6:45 p.m.

As the Enquirer's editorial cartoonist from 1976 to 2008, Borgman tackled subjects like Pete Rose's legal woes; Bengals coach Sam Wyche barring a female reporter from the locker room; the death of Ryan White, an Indiana teenager with AIDS; and a controversial Robert Mapplethorpe art display. His work earned him the Pulitzer for editorial cartooning – the Enquirer’s first – in 1991.

In 1997, Borgman and writer Jerry Scott debuted their popular "Zits" comic strip about the amiable high-schooler Jeremy Duncan. The comic has been named the best newspaper strip by the National Cartoonist Society three times. "Zits" is still widely circulated today ‒ The Enquirer is among the roughly 1,700 newspapers that run the strip.

Borgman left the Enquirer in 2008 and moved away from Cincinnati a few years later. He now illustrates the "Zits" adventures from his home in Colorado.

Upon returning to Cincinnati for his Reds gig, he's realized the Queen City will always feel like home.

"I love where we've moved to in Boulder ... but this is different. My DNA sprung from near here," he said. "It's always good to be in Cincinnati. I'm with my people."

How to watch Reds v. Pirates on Tuesday, June 25

The Reds' game against the Pirates will air on Bally Sports Ohio, which is Channel 660 or Channel 661 (Bally Sports Cincinnati) on DirecTV for in-market fans.

Fans can stream Reds games on the Bally Sports App through their cable TV provider.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Jim Borgman, former Enquirer cartoonist, will throw Reds' first pitch