The Old Lefthander & Me
My Conversations with Joe Nuxhall About the Reds, Baseball & Broadcasting
Here's several excerpts from my book. Enjoy! —Kiese
Part of the proceeds from the book benefit the Nuxhall Foundation.
On his way to a Reds Caravan appearance at Suttmiller's restaurant in Dayton on Feb. 1, 1974, Joe Nuxhall stopped by a Dayton photography studio. The Reds needed a publicity photo (at left) of Joe with the Reds' newest employee, 31-year-old Virginia native Marty Brennaman. They shook hands.
"I've got your baseball card," Brennaman said.
Nuxhall, 6-foot-3 and 234 pounds, had met his new Little Buddy. "That was the beginning of a very special and very unique relationship," said Brennaman, who is 5-foot-8. "I can't imagine anybody had a better relationship than we had for each other. We genuinely loved each other."
There's no way Brennaman or Nuxhall could have dreamed in 1974 they would become an iconic part of Cincinnati Reds history, known simply by their first names, like the team stars they broadcast: Sparky, Pete, Johnny, Tony, Barry and Lou. Until that day in Dayton, Nuxhall had only heard Brennaman's voice on tape.
"I always remember Marty walking through the door," Nuxhall recalled with a laugh in 2002. "I heard this voice on tape, and I thought, 'This must be a big ol' boy!' Then he walks through the door!"
Joe Nuxhall told hilarious stories about his playing days and his explosive temper, making fans forget his accomplishments in a Reds uniform. He was no joke as a player. The Old Lefthander was a very good pitcher, without a doubt, in all honesty, to use a couple of his favorite phrases.
In 16 seasons, Nuxhall won 135, lost 117 and struck out 1,372 for the Reds, Kansas City Athletics and Los Angeles Angels. He was 130-109 for the Reds, with a 3.80 earned run average, 20 shutouts, 18 saves and 1,289 strikeouts. Nuxhall set the Reds' franchise record for pitching 15 seasons, unbroken for more than 50 years through the 2021 season. When he retired in spring 1967, he was the club's all-time leader in games pitched (484) and strikeouts (1,289).
Nuxhall had two spectacular seasons for the Reds, eight years apart, after being released by a second-year expansion team. At age 26 in 1955 – more than a decade after his disastrous 1944 debut– he was 17-12 with 14 complete games and a 3.47 ERA, and pitched in the All-Star Game. Fast-forward to 1963, after a year in the American League and another stint in the minors, when Nuxhall put together his best season, 15-8 with a 3.03 ERA, and earned the Cincinnati baseball writers' Comeback Of The Year Award at 35. Nuxy brought down the house at their banquet by saying, "I hope I never win this again."
When Cincinnati's Kroger Co. decided to be a major Reds TV sponsor in 1984, advertising manager Sam Gingrich sought the services of Nuxhall and Brennaman against the advice of his Chicago advertising agency. The Chicago marketing experts wanted Kroger to sign a star player. Gingrich held firm. He knew more about Cincinnati and the 1984 Reds roster.
The Big Red Machine had fallen apart since being swept by the Pirates in the 1979 NLCS. The Reds were coming off two consecutive last-place finishes, and a year removed from a franchise-worst 101 losses in 1982. Gone were Rose, Morgan, Bench, Foster, Seaver, Sparky, Griffey, Geronimo, Gullett, Nolan, Norman, Billingham, Borbon, Eastwick and McEnaney. That left Dave Concepcion, Dan Driessen, Nuxhall and Brennaman.
Kroger's campaign was genius. It captured their friendship and elevated their status to local cultural icons. No longer were they just Marty and Joe on the radio; they were a TV comedy team pitching the hometown grocery chain in cleverly crafted commercials. Big Joe and his Little Buddy chewed fried chicken, flipped burgers, shopped Kroger aisles, prepped for picnics and taste-tested house brands while bantering about Cost-Cutter prices …
Speaking to my Sacred Heart Church Knights of Columbus in the winter of 1994, Nuxhall said he was no longer recognized by young fans as a Reds broadcaster or former player. "Now I go somewhere and kids say, 'There's the Kroger man!' "
They were The Odd Couple. Hamilton Joe, the folksy hometown hero, and Marty, the "Poofy-Haired Fancy Boy," as Cincinnati Enquirer columnist Tim Sullivan dubbed him. Joe cheered balls over the wall with "Get outta here!, Get outta here!" as he did as a player from the dugout. If he caught a foul ball in the booth he'd toss it to a kid sitting in the seats below the booth … Joe was the blue-collar common man at the mic. He delivered a straight-forward narrative the best he could. He didn't pronounce every name right. In 1993 he called new Reds outfielder Cecil Espy "EPP-see," prompting a fan in Riverfront's green seats below the booth to shout: "Joe! It's ESS-pee!"
Sixty years with the Reds, and Nuxhall spent more than half of them sitting next to his Little Buddy. As Brennaman was retiring in 2019, when the Reds celebrated the 150th anniversary of the 1869 Red Stockings, sportswriters noted that Marty had been around for nearly one-third of the team's history. However, Nuxhall's 64 years represented nearly 43% of the club's 150 years; thanks to Brennaman's references to Joe through 2019 Joe had a presence for 75 years, or half of Reds' history.
"Sixty years in one organization, I'm very proud of that. I'm proud of the association I've had with this ballclub over the years, from the very first day I signed a contract in 1944," Nuxhall said in 2002. "The thrills I've had as a player, and in the radio booth with Marty, can't be matched in any way."
