Joe Nuxhall signs autographs before Friday's game. (Craig Ruttle photo) | ZOOM |

        After the first inning, Acevedo faced 12 more batters before the Cubs got another hit. Only two other base runners would reach second against him, and both times it was with two outs.

        Reds radio broadcaster Joe Nuxhall has been involved in controversies. In the 1960s, some players wanted to ban him from the team plane for his comments.

        “I told them I'd ride on the wing,” he said. “They boycotted my show for a while.”

        One time in the '70s, he didn't have Dave Concepcion on Star of The Game after Concepcion hit a grand slam. Concepcion wasn't happy.

        “We had some fun with that,” Nuxhall said.

        In the '80s, Nuxhall and his partner, Marty Brennaman, were hauled into the office of National League president Bart Giamatti for “inciting a riot” after the infamous argument between Reds manager Pete Rose and umpire Dave Pal
lone.

        But all that happened in the days before all-day, all-sports talk.

WHAT THEY SAID

• Nuxhall: Larkin's losing it   • Larkin: Groin injury to blame

        That's what made The Barry Larkin Incident different. When Nuxhall said Larkin was “losing it” as a shortstop, he lit the talk-radio fuse. Three days later, the airwaves still were burning up with talk of it.

        Nuxhall was on the road and missed it.

        “My wife heard it,” he said. “She wasn't real happy with me.”

        But Nuxhall doesn't regret what he said.

        “I say what I see,” he said. “I'm not trying to hurt anyone. But sometimes when you say what's what, it hurts.”

Nuxhall chats with Deion Sanders in May. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        As with most stories fueled by talk radio, people picked sides in this one. Some said Nuxhall, not Larkin, was the one who was losing it. Some said Nuxhall should move into a reduced role.

        To which Nuxhall says: “Those are probably people who never come to a game. If they bring a radio and watch the game, they'll see we're on target 99 percent of the time.”

        I might argue with that number. But I don't hear a great difference between the Nuxhall of 2001 and the Nuxhall of 1991.

        It's true Nuxhall is not a great play-by-play man. But he never was. He gets names wrong occasionally. But he always did. He'll say a ball is hit to “right ... left” center field. But he always has.

        Sure, the Reds could replace him with a better play-by-play man. But no one listens to Reds games to hear Nuxhall do play-by-play. Reds fans listen because they love him. He is the Reds. It's safe to say no Reds figure, past or present, is more beloved.

        Nuxhall has been doing Reds games since 1967. Before that, he pitched 15 years for the club. He and Brennaman have been together since 1974.

        Brennaman sees no slip in his partner's work.

        “He's the same old Joe,” Brennaman said.

        Nuxhall and Brennaman are under contract through the 2002 season. Nuxhall will turn 73 on July 30, but he has no plans for retirement. He wants to stay on with the Reds at least through the opening of Great American Ball Park in 2003.

        No one in the Reds organization would dare step in the way of that.

        Though the Larkin remark might seem outlandish for Nuxhall, one of the all-time nice guys, it wasn't the first strong opinion he expressed this year. He ripped outfielder Deion Sanders on a misplayed fly ball. He strongly questioned manager Bob Boone's decision to pull pitcher Chris Reitsma for a pinch hitter.

        “He is more opinionated,” Brennaman said. “I don't know why. Maybe he's going through a midlife crisis.”

        But when you take on Larkin, you touch a nerve.

        “As soon as he said it,” Brennaman said, “I thought, "Welcome to the club.'”

        Brennaman, of course, has ticked off his share of players through the years.

        Nuxhall said he has talked to Larkin and things between them are fine.

        “It's water over the dam or under the bridge,” he said.
        E-mail: jfay@enquirer.com.

Join the debate in our Reds forum.

SULLIVAN: Lindner-Larkin deal all-time Reds blunder DAUGHERTY: Reds are paying for sideshows, not good players Reds 7, Cubs 1 Reds trade Wohlers to Yankees Reds see Rijo in Aramboles Nuxhall knows controversy No excuses for Larkin Fan's-eye view of the Reds Gookie still part of Reds' future Reds minor-league report Reds box, runs

Best and worst of week in sports
Bonds Watch: Out with bruised wrist
Sabres trade Hasek to Red Wings
High School Insider
South football stars win
Auto racing insider
Fox Sports scores with Boomer
Hall patterns game after Tiger
PGA commissioner to visit Kroger Classic
Tristate Golf Notebook
Women's stroke play tee times
Farish's Lane's End gives Spiral boost
Tuukkanen wins scholar-athlete honor

• Return to Reds front page...