Nuxhall

        Joe Nuxhall played golf Monday. Nine holes. Didn't hit it particularly well. Didn't score very well, either. But he was very pleased with his round.

        “I told the guy I was playing with that was the first time in 20 years I played a round of golf without having a cigarette,” Nuxhall said. “I'm prouder of that than shooting a good score.”

        Monday's round was the first for Nuxhall since he suffered a heart attack on Dec.17. Getting back on the course showed Nuxhall how far he's come — and how far he has to go.

        “I feel good,” he said. “Better than I felt before this happened. But I'm not in shape. I'm not ready to play 18 holes, I'll tell you that. But it's coming along.”

        Nuxhall hasn't had a cigarette since the heart attack. He chews one piece of Nicorette all day long. “A lot of people use three or four,” he said. “But one does the trick. It's sugarless, so it's better than chewing regular gum.”

        Nuxhall, 73, has done more than just give up smoking. He's exercising three days a week and watching what he eats. His weight is down 12 pounds. He hopes to lose another 20.

        “His disposition has really improved,” said his son, Kim. “I don't think he liked himself smoking. People were always getting on him. But this time, he wanted to do it for himself.”

        “It scared him,” said his partner of 28 years, Marty Brennaman. “The big key for him is the smoking and losing weight. He has to do both.”

        Nuxhall is determined. Nuxhall and his wife, Donzetta, arrived in Sarasota Saturday. They left as soon as Joe got the approval from his doctor. His plans for today are to get his rehabilitation program set up at a Sarasota hospital.

        “Everything seems to be moving right along,” he said.

        This will be Nuxhall's 52nd year in major league baseball — 16 as a player and 36 as a broadcaster. He plans to be the same guy in the booth. But Nuxhall is doing some things you wouldn't expect from the Old Left-hander. Sunday, for instance, he took a five-mile bike ride.

        “Oh my gosh, did he?” Kim said. “That's great. I know his goal is to walk nine holes of golf.”

        The night he suffered the heart attack a five-mile bike ride or a round of golf seemed impossible for Nuxhall.

        He was at the Outback Steakhouse in Springdale having dinner with Donzetta and Kim. The pain started as soon as they arrived.

        “Kim said, "Dad, you don't look good, you all right?'” Nuxhall said. “I said, "I'm hurting.'”

        By the time the drinks arrived the pain was overwhelming. Kim insisted that they go to an urgent care center across the street. Nuxhall feels lucky Kim was there. Donzetta doesn't drive, so Joe might have been inclined to wait until he felt good enough to drive himself to the clinic.

        He realizes now that that might have never happened.

        And he was touched by the flowers and hundreds of cards he received.

        “It was really something,” Nuxhall said. "You don't realize how much people appreciate you until something like this happens.”

        He had a new appreciation for life. “I know I got a second chance,” he said.

        Nuxhall is considering cutting back on his schedule next year. His doctors would like to see him avoid trips where the Reds spend the night traveling after a game, arriving somewhere at 3 or 4 a.m.

        “I'm going to look at the schedule with (traveling secretary) Gary Wahoff and see,” Nuxhall said.

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