I was watching the Cincinnati Reds clobber the San Francisco Giants last night, and it made me think how much I miss listening to Marty and Joe.
Marty Brennaman and Joe Nuxhall called the Reds’ games on the radio when I was growing up and even after I’d grown up. Marty joined Joe in the booth in 1974, and they worked together for 30 years, until Joe retired. He passed away in 2007.
Marty and Joe talked about everything: tomato plants, movies, sometimes even the baseball game. I used to have a job where I had to drive halfway across the state and drive home at night, and in the summertime, if atmospheric conditions were right, I could tune in WLW-700 AM and listen to the Reds, not because I liked the team (although I do) because I liked listening to Marty and Joe.
Marty’s background was radio, but Joe’s was baseball, and here’s one of the coolest things about him:
He’s in the record books as the youngest player ever to appear in a major league game. He pitched two-thirds of an inning for Cincinnati in 1944, when he was 15 years old.
This was during World War II, and teams had to use players who were too young or too old for the draft or otherwise couldn’t serve. The Reds signed Joe when he was still in the 9th grade because he had an 85-mile-an-hour fastball.
Usually, he sat on the bench, but once, with the Reds losing 13-0 against the St. Louis Cardinals, the Reds’ manager, Bill McKechnie, decided to give Joe a shot.
It didn’t go well.
Joe quickly gave up 5 runs, but he did get to pitch against Stan Musial. Imagine being 15 years old today and getting to pitch in a major-league game against Albert Pujols or Alex Rodriguez. That’s what Joe Nuxhall did between his freshman and sophomore years of high school.
Joe returned to the team in 1952, and when he retired 15 years later, he became the Reds’ color commentator.
When he’d signed off, Joe would say, “This is the ol’ left hander, rounding home and heading for home.” When I’m in the car at night, I still try to find a baseball game to keep me company, but I don’t think I’ll ever hear a broadcast team that’s in the same league as Marty and Joe.
Yep, that’s the way it should be–real baseball guys sharing a game with you. I think I used to have a Joe Nuxhall baseball card. Might be worth something but I have no idea what happened to it.
I sold most of my old baseball cards a few years ago on eBay. They weren’t nearly as much as I imaged they would be.
HI! I read your blog regularly but this is the first time I have commented. I was the only granddaughter & grandchild of a Reds LOVING grandfather who taught me the love of the game. We would listen to Marty & Joe call the games and enjoy every minute of it. They were the best!
Well, I’m glad you finally spoke up! What always struck me was that Marty and Joe were always there. They were there when I was a kid, and they were there when I was grown and had kids of my own. Of course, I’m from the generation that used to listen to basebal on the radio, so what do I know?
That makes me think of how ingrained it was in me that Jon Miller was the voice of the Orioles. Growing up, he was always the announcer I would hear when watching games with my dad. Then he was fired because he dared to say disparaging things against the Orioles.
On our honeymoon, the hubs and I were driving from San Francisco to Monterey Bay and listening to one of the world series games on the radio, then between the Giants and the A’s (I think), and the voice coming out of the speakers took me home. It was Jon Miller and he was announcing for the Giants, and just hearing his voice speaking on the airwaves, albeit for another team, just brought back so many memories and it finally felt “right” again, listening to that game.
I still miss him.
Funny how that works, isn’t it? I grew up in Kentucky, and Cawood Ledford was the voice of the Kentucky Wildcats. He finally retired in the mid-90s, and a year or two later, Kentucky was in the Final Four for the first time in years, and fans wanted Cawood to come back and call the game. He wisely declined, but I liked how it showed how important he was to people.
Ha, it must be a generational thing. As I was reading, I was thinking about how Chuck Thompson will always be the voice of the Orioles (“Go to war, Miss Agnes!”) and the Colts (pre-Indy). I still miss them.
I was going to mention Chuck Thompson as well, but didn’t want to get too “Orioles history” on Todd’s post. But now that you mention it, I also really miss Rex Barney’s “Give that fan . . . a contract” and “Thank Youuuuuuu.”
There is something comforting about baseball, particularly listening to it while driving. Always on AM, the signal rarely fades. Perhaps it is the glue that holds America together.
I’m not sure there’s any glue that holds us together these days. Everybody’s got their own little niche, which isn’t bad, necessarily, but it sure makes it hard for guys like Marty and Joe to mean something to different generations of fans.
I was afraid you would say that, no glue. Can you say “entropy”? Sure you can, I knew that you could.
I always enjoy your baseball pieces, Todd. This one has sort of a Rolling Stones/Phish feel to it. Can’t quite put my finger on the reason . . .