“You can expect me to single out a number of people who have been very important to me and helped me get where I am. I'll talk about my background as a kid, the impression some of those people made on me. I'll talk about Sherri (his wife), and how it takes a special kind of person to be married to someone in this profession. Nothing out of the ordinary. I don't think this speech is a lot different than any other.”

        2. Are you going to mention Pete Rose (and how you believe he should be in the Hall)?

        “You bet your ass. It needs to be said.”

        3. You make your living by talking. Is this going to be a long speech?

        “I couldn't care less about (being long). I'll never have this opportunity again. There are going to be names you recognize and names you don't. It's important people know those people have been important to me. But I'm not going to bore anybody.”

        4. What do you do when you're not at the ballpark?

        “I get up around 6:30 or 7. I'm a morning person. I update my book (his daily stats on Reds players). I feed the cat (Morris, who's 14). He's a dog in a cat's body. He's a sensational cat. I feed the birds and the deer (with crack corn). We live in a heavily-wooded area, so we have a lot of wildlife, foxes and squirrels. We're animal lovers.”

        5. What are your favorite moments as a broadcaster?

        “Pete's hit (4,192, to break Ty Cobb's all-time record). That's the single biggest moment I've been a part of. (Tom) Browning's perfect game (in 1988), Tom Seaver's no-hitter (1978). The Kentucky-Duke game (NCAA basketball tournament, 1992). In those cases, the tension mounts, and you're trying to convey that to the audience. That wasn't the case with Pete, because there was no question that was going to happen.”

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