Monday, March 27, 2006
Marty: Nux will work Monday
BY JOHN KIESEWETTER | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER
Joe Nuxhall finds out Tuesday if he’ll return to the Reds radio booth for Opening Day.
“That would really be a thrill,” says Nuxhall, 77, forced into retirement after the 2004 season. He missed his first Opening Day broadcast last year after calling 38 consecutive openers.
Nuxhall meets Tuesday with Reds COO John Allen to discuss his 20-game broadcast schedule. Nuxhall says nobody has asked him to participate in Monday’s broadcast – but long-time broadcast partner Marty Brennaman says Nux will work with him again and Steve Stewart on Monday.
“Joe’s going to work Opening Day. Steve’s going to do half the game, and Joe’s going to do half the game,” Brennaman said.
That was news to Nuxhall – and Rob Butcher, Reds media relations director.
“If Marty says Joe will be in the booth on Opening Day, I believe him,” Butcher said.
A WLW-AM (700) promotion saying Nuxhall will be part of the Opening Day radio team also traces its way back to Brennaman.
Darryl Parks, WLW-AM operations director, says “that’s what we’ve been told from Sarasota” by Dave Armbruster, the station staffer who has been producing Brennaman’s spring training game broadcasts.
Nuxhall’s return to Opening Day fits the “power of tradition” theme of Robert Castellini, the Reds new chief executive officer.
“The Ol’ Lefthander” has been associated with the club for 62 years, making his debut in 1944 at age 15, the youngest player ever to appear in a Major League Baseball game.
Twenty regular season games will be significantly more than last year. He’ll do at least one game in the new St. Louis Busch Stadium, which will be the 59th ballpark he has played in or broadcast from, he says. He will do 10 games with Brennaman, and 10 games with Stewart, Brennaman says.
“Right now Steve and I are scheduled to take off 10 games each. I really don’t want to take off any more than that. I couldn’t stand it. I’d go crazy,” Brennaman said.
E-mail jkiesewetter@enquirer.com
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