Joe Nuxhall talks with Johnny Bench before the Reds play the Expos at Cinergy Field Friday. (Jeff Swinger photo) | ZOOM |

        Joe Nuxhall had rounded third and arrived at home about the time David Letterman was talking about the Reds broadcaster on CBS' Late Show Thursday.

        Before introducing sportscaster Dick Enberg, Letterman recalled favorite phrases from his favorite radio baseball announcers, including Nuxhall, to whom he listened in Indianapolis on WLW-AM in the early 1970s.

        “Joe Nuxhall, when he would sign off the Reds (broadcast), it would be, "So until tomorrow, it's the Old Left-hander rounding third and heading for home,'” Letterman told his national TV audience.

        He repeated the line later in the show, but Nuxhall didn't see it. Nuxhall had turned on ESPN when he arrived home in Fairfield at 11:40 p.m. Wednesday from the Reds-Cubs game at Cinergy Field.

        “I was watching SportsCenter for other (baseball) scores,” said Nuxhall, a Reds radio voice since 1967.

        Had Nuxhall tuned in the Late Show, he would have heard Letterman also talk about a 1979 Sports Illustrated profile of the Reds broadcaster. “Joe Nuxhall, and I just loved him for this ... after each game, Joe Nuxhall would have a six-pack of Michelob and one of those big, quarter-pound sticks of Cracker Barrel cheese after every game,” Letterman said.

        Said Nuxhall on Friday: “I remember that!”

        He remembers the SI story for two reasons: He said the writer exaggerated about the six-pack (“I'd have two or threebeers, no question about it”) and said Reds general manager Dick Wagner “really jumped on me, because Stroh's was our sponsor at the time.”

        Despite a December heart attack, Nuxhall said Friday he hasn't lost his love for cheese.

        “I'm still having a bite of cheese. Any kind. One of my favorites is Limburger,” he said.

        Nuxhall had just come home Friday afternoon from the doctor's office, where he was given a clean bill of health. “The doctor told me, "Joe, I can't even tell you had a heart attack.' Everything was fine,” he said.

        Nuxhall said he was flattered by the Letterman mention. He almost met the late-night host in 1990, after the Reds' World Series sweep of Oakland, but producers invited Reds manager Lou Piniella to the show instead.

        “They kept calling me and wanting me to come on,” he said. “They asked me for some funny incidents that I'd seen happen. I told them some stuff, but I guess it wasn't funny enough.”

        Letterman grew up a Reds fan, often coming by train from Indianapolis with his father to Crosley Field in the 1950s. He attended games at Riverfront Stadium before moving to Los Angeles in 1975.

        Letterman also called Nuxhall one of his favorite baseball broadcasters, along with Vin Scully, Al Michaels and Enberg, but that comment was cut because the show ran long.
        Letterman said the Reds radio team of Michaels and Nuxhall (1971-73) “was fantastic. What a great combination those guys were.”

        After moving to Los Angeles, Letterman said he listened to Scully do Dodgers games and Enberg on the Angels games.

        “For a period of about 10 years, I was in baseball radio heaven. These guys (were) absolutely the cream of the crop.”

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