By Kevin Kelly
Enquirer staff writer
ST. LOUIS - The call was his upon request from Ken Griffey Jr. And as one might expect from a Hall of Famer, Reds radio broadcaster Marty Brennaman delivered when Griffey hit career home run No. 500 in the sixth inning Sunday at Busch Stadium.
"The pitch. And a high drive, hit back into deep right field. Junior has just knocked the door down to the 500 club," Brennaman said at the moment. "A high drive into the lower deck in right. No. 30 touches them all. Boy, what a Father's Day gift for Senior."
Though calling Pete Rose's record-setting 4,192nd hit will stand alone as Brennaman's top highlight, the Griffey home run ranks up there.
"I just said whatever came to mind when it happened," Brennaman said. "The only thing you hope for as a play by play guy is that whatever you say it comes out and it flows and you don't stumble over your words, which I didn't."
Griffey requested that either Brennaman or Joe Nuxhall be the ones to call the home run when it happened, so there was some element of pressure.
"While that was an honor that I really appreciated, that made it incumbent on me, whatever I said, to make it something that I think he would like to hear over and over and over again," Brennaman said. "Because he's going to hear it over and over and over again."
New Reds radio broadcaster Steve Stewart was in the booth at the time, but the sixth inning belonged to Brennaman.
"The setting was perfect," Brennaman said. "It was Father's Day. It was a win. And the home run was majestic.
"There was no question it was going to go. It was gone from the time it left the bat."
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