Friday, February 04, 2000

Red-letter day for Marty

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Brennaman will join Hall of Fame

BY JOHN FAY
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Marty Brennaman at Friday's press conference. (Michael E. Keating photo) | ZOOM |

        And this one belongs to Marty. Marty Brennaman, who used a similar catchphrase as his final call for roughly 2,170 Reds victories, has been voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

        “For my profession, it doesn't get any bigger than this,” Mr. Brennaman said. “It's been a great ride for me.”

        Brennaman goes into the Hall as the winner of the 2000 Ford C. Frick Award, presented annually to a baseball broadcaster. Brennaman becomes the 24th announcer elected to the Hall. He joins Red Barber as the only other Reds broadcaster in the Hall of Fame (former Reds announcer Waite Hoyt is in the Hall as a player).

        Brennaman will be inducted July 23.

        “I don't think that I'm the best baseball announcer that's ever lived by any means; I think Vin Scully is,” he said.

BROADCASTERS IN COOPERSTOWN

Ford Frick Award Recipients   1978 Mel Allen, Red Barber   1979 Bob Elson   1980 Russ Hodges   1981 Ernie Harwell   1982 Vin Scully   1983 Jack Brickhouse   1984 Curt Gowdy   1985 Buck Canel   1986 Bob Prince   1987 Jack Buck   1988 Lindsey Nelson   1989 Harry Caray   1990 By Saam   1991 Joe Garagiola   1992 Milo Hamilton   1993 Chuck Thompson   1994 Bob Murphy   1995 Bob Wolff   1996 Herb Carneal   1997 Jimmy Dudley   1998 Jaime Jarrin   1999 Arch McDonald   2000 Marty Brennaman   Source: The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum 1999 Yearbook.

        “But at the same time, for one day in July, I'll be his equal.”

        Brennaman and his partner, Joe Nuxhall, are about to begin their 27th year as the Reds radio team. Marty and Joe have become as beloved in Cincinnati as any player.

        “I wish he was here,” Brennaman said. “I'm not very emotional by nature. But I'm sure Joe would shed a few tears for me. He'd be that happy.”

        Nuxhall was in Plant City, Fla, but he was as happy as Brennaman said he'd be. “It's great,” Nuxhall said, “just great. Marty deserves it.”

        Others echoed that sentiment.

        “Marty Brennaman's one of the few people we have in the organization who has a great year every year,” said Reds General Manager Jim Bowden. “You don't have to worry about arbitration, you don't have to worry about free agency, you don't have to worry about if he's going to have an off-year.”

        Said Jennifer Bieber, 26, of Cincinnati, “Ever since I was a little girl, I've always listened to him on the radio. He's the first thing I think when I think about the Cincinnati Reds.””

Brennaman and Joe Nuxhall were honored in 1997 for 25 years in the Reds booth. | ZOOM |

        Brennaman's election means that the July 23 induction ceremony will have a definite Red tint to it. Former Reds great Tony Perez was elected to the Hall Jan. 11. Former Reds manager Sparky Anderson is eligible to be elected by the Veterans Committee; that announcement will come Feb. 29.

        “Going in with Tony, and I think Sparky is a slam dunk ... that might be unprecedented,” Brennaman said, “I can't imagine there being another induction where there were three people associated with one team. I can't imagine it being more special than that.”

        Brennaman has never been to Cooperstown. He was already planning his big day when he had to change plans.

        “I just found out you're not allowed to have a presenter,” Brennaman said. “That really ticks me off. I have to make due with Ralph Kiner and Bud Selig ... ”

        Brennaman had decided his daughters, Dawn and Ashley, would present him.

        “My son gets enough attention,” he said.

        Son Thom, the play-by-play man for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Fox Sports, will be in Cooperstown, along with Marty's wife, Sherri, and his mother, Lillian.

Marty Brennaman is reflected in a bust of Elvis Presley after he created an "Elvis shrine" in the radio booth in 1997. | ZOOM |

        Nuxhall wasn't sure whether he'd be able to attend. “I'd like to,” he said. “But somebody's got to mind the store.”

        The Reds play Arizona July 23, but Brennaman will lobby to get his partner the day off. “I hope he can be there,” Brennaman said. “I'd be disappointed if he's not.”

        The Reds plan to have a reception in Cooperstown to honor Brennaman, Perez and Anderson, if he gets in.

        “This adds to history of the club,” Reds Chief Operating Officer John Allen said. “This is another point for the home team. It also speaks to how great the Big Red Machine was.”

        Brennaman, who came in just as Big Red Machine Era got rolling, almost didn't become the Reds play-by-plan man at all. He was the announcer for the Virginia Squires of the old American Basketball Association, and he was happy with it.

        He also did the Triple-A Tidewater Tides. Dave Rosenfield, the general manager of the Tides, ran into Dick Wagner, then the Reds GM, at baseball's winter meetings. Rosenfield recommended Brennaman as the replacement for Al Michaels, who left to take the play-by-play job with the San Francisco Giants.

        “I sent the tape as a courtesy to Dave,” Brennaman said.

        He was one of 221 to apply for the job. He was one of three finalists the Reds brought in for auditions.

        “By then, I wanted the job,” he said.

        He got it. It was 1974. Brennaman was 31 years old and he was replacing a popular broadcaster in Michaels. He still remembers walking into the clubhouse — the clubhouse of the Big Red Machine — at spring training for the first time.

        “I was scared to death,” he said. “But Pete Rose, Johnny Bench and Tony Perez all came up to me and asked if there was anything they could do help, just ask.”

        Brennaman was an unabashed “homer” for the Reds in those early years. His style has developed to point where he is one of most critical play-by-play men in baseball.

        “I'm allowed to do that,” he said. “I'm allowed to express my opinions.”

        Brennaman gets away with what he says because he is in the clubhouse every day and he never shies away from a confrontation with a player.

        “The only thing I have is my credibility,” he said.

        Brennaman has had offers from the New York Yankees, the Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Dodgers and Boston Red Sox. But he never really came close to leaving.

        “I always weighed the chance to make money with the appeal of living here,” he said. “I don't think we know how good we've got it.”

        The Brennaman-Nuxhall booth is unique in baseball. Tomato-growing techniques are discussed as often as the sacrifice bunt.

        “It works in Cincinnati,” Brennaman said. “It might not work somewhere else, but we're able to laugh at ourselves and talk about our golf game and my tomatoes and everything else under the blasted sun.”

        Brennaman has done 4,084 regular season games in all. He's missed only six in his years in the booth — two with laryngitis, four for his children's graduations.

        He'll miss another one July 23.

        “I really hate to miss games,” he said. “I really do. But I'll make an exception.”

       

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