Marty Brennaman: 2019 is my final year

[gagliano]

Tom, you're one of my favorite forum members and I feel like we are in agreement 9 times out of 10, but I can't support this one bit.
Like so many on this board, I went to sleep as a child hugging a radio listening to Reds games. As I got older it sat on my nightstand as I fell asleep to west coast games as a teen.
Marty was about as good as anyone who ever announced ballgames, period.
He embodied the franchise in many ways.
The last few years he definitely seemed disillusioned with a club that was horrible and had struggled to win for most of the last 20 years.
As self righteous as he often got, I can forgive that.
Reds baseball has been a huge part of my 36 year existence.
Memories of listening to Marty on a porch/patio on a starlit summer night with my Dad/Grandfathers/Uncle's/cousins/friends is the epitome of the love and nostalgia that makes MLB such a special experience for so many people.
I won't miss sarcastic, anti SABR Marty so much. Whoever replaces him, though, has a gigantic gap to fill.
I don't expect to be very pleased with what comes next, unfortunately.

thank you. i listened to him for 44 years. i've never met the man, but i consider him a friend. he has been there through so much of my life. it won't be normal anymore without him.

[RedTeamGo!]

What’s a radio?

[Marsh15]

For me it was him interviewing the bird. That was just awful.

https://www.mlb.com/cut4/bird-interv...th/c-231576456


This joke is why you hate him.

[WrongVerb]

https://www.mlb.com/cut4/bird-interv...th/c-231576456


This joke is why you hate him.

Oh there are so many more reasons than just that. Though I don't hate him... I'm sure he's a fine human being... just can't stand his announcing for the Reds.

[westofyou]

Oh there are so many more reasons than just that. Though I don't hate him... I'm sure he's a fine human being... just can't stand his announcing for the Reds.

Wait.... you mean you can have your own opinion on an announcer based solely on the job he’s doing?

Is that even allowed?

[KittyDuran]

[Mikey_D]

Baseball announcers are a unique group.

Unlike any other entertainers, people come to feel as if they know them. We come to think of them as friends. That isn't true with football or basketball announcers because those games are so fast all you get is the play by play. Baseball games have their pauses, their moments where the announcers often fill space with jokes, personal stories, or the kind of banter we all enjoy when sitting on the back porch with a friend.

How strange it must be to walk in their shoes. Complete strangers approach them and feel as if they know them intimately. Those are one-way relationships in a way. We know everything about them. They know nothing about us. Yet for the most part these men engage the public with happy appreciation even when their privacy is invaded by people just shy of stalkers.

I like the guy. Reds baseball won't be the same.

[BCubb2003]

Baseball announcers are a unique group.

Unlike any other entertainers, people come to feel as if they know them. We come to think of them as friends. That isn't true with football or basketball announcers because those games are so fast all you get is the play by play. Baseball games have their pauses, their moments where the announcers often fill space with jokes, personal stories, or the kind of banter we all enjoy when sitting on the back porch with a friend.

How strange it must be to walk in their shoes. Complete strangers approach them and feel as if they know them intimately. Those are one-way relationships in a way. We know everything about them. They know nothing about us. Yet for the most part these men engage the public with happy appreciation even when their privacy is invaded by people just shy of stalkers.

I like the guy. Reds baseball won't be the same.

That’s well said. Marty gave a phone interview to one of the MLB shows and they asked him in an affectionate way about the stories and the tomato plants, etc., and he gave a good account of why he did it that way. And he said, “And there are some people who will, well ...” as if hears the criticism.

[dfs]

Elvis and the tomato plants didn't bother me. It was a way of keeping the air full w/out complaining about the product in front of him.

Announcers ARE a rare breed because they have two mandates. #1 is they have to tell people about what is happening on the field and to a lesser extent within the franchise. #2 They are a marketing arm of the team and want folks to tune in tomorrow and maybe come to the park.

Balancing these two mandates has to be difficult and to my ear for the last 10 years Marty has forgotten #2. He has broadcast as if folks naturally don't have a choice about how to spend their time while choices have been multiplying under our feet. Yes, the product has been terrible. No, I don't want a homeboy announcer who is going to blow sunshine out of his rear end all the time. But Marty has broadcast with such negativity, about the product that he is supposed to be selling, that it's easy to make the decision to just not listen.

Marty is like Pete, at one time I would have been thrilled to meet him and shake his hand, but now, not so much.

[Yachtzee]

Elvis and the tomato plants didn't bother me. It was a way of keeping the air full w/out complaining about the product in front of him.

Announcers ARE a rare breed because they have two mandates. #1 is they have to tell people about what is happening on the field and to a lesser extent within the franchise. #2 They are a marketing arm of the team and want folks to tune in tomorrow and maybe come to the park.

Balancing these two mandates has to be difficult and to my ear for the last 10 years Marty has forgotten #2. He has broadcast as if folks naturally don't have a choice about how to spend their time while choices have been multiplying under our feet. Yes, the product has been terrible. No, I don't want a homeboy announcer who is going to blow sunshine out of his rear end all the time. But Marty has broadcast with such negativity, about the product that he is supposed to be selling, that it's easy to make the decision to just not listen.

Marty is like Pete, at one time I would have been thrilled to meet him and shake his hand, but now, not so much.

I didn't mind the tangents Marty and Joe would go off on when the game was slow. It was rather endearing, much in the way Ernie Johnson would talk about Waffle House, or Harry Caray would pronounce players' names backwards.

I think what mandate an announcer has depends on what their role is. Marty's roll as play-by-play man is #1 for sure. A lot of people can just describe the action on the field. These days, Siri could do it. The best announcers don't just tell you what's happening, but they tell the story of the game and paint a picture so that you can see the game in your head. If you're good at that, people will tune in whether the baseball itself is good or bad because they want to hear the story of the game. Marty was one of the best when he was with Joe.

Where Marty went off the rails after Joe was gone is that he decided that he knew the best way baseball should be played and would spend long stretches of the game pontificating about it. If you were a player that didn't do what he felt you should do, he would use his bully pulpit to run you down. And if you tried to disprove his opinions using any new stat he didn't recognize or understand, he would belittle you as a "propeller head." And whereas many announcers would treat extra innings as "bonus baseball" or a thrilling or tense situation, Marty has always tended to treat extra innings as a nuisance because he's got an early tee time the next morning.

When Marty is done, I will always remember him fondly from before when Joe was around.

[kheidg-]

I will miss listening to Marty. Whoever takes over won't replace him, but a new chapter will be started.

I don't mind Thom like almost everyone else here. But he ain't going to radio.

My memories will be listening to static-y radio fading in and out at times of Marty calling games. My dad and I frequently listened in our car, as that was the best reception we could get. Keep in mind we are in Minnesota.

Even today, I sometimes tune in while I'm driving in the evenings. There are the dead-spot moments but I can get the games in most spots, which makes my frequent long drives more enjoyable. It won't be as good without him.

[Tadasimha]

Tommy Thrall, who's been calling the Wahoos games is getting to work with Marty and will be doing both postgame and some in-game work. Sounds like an audition and on the job training. Guy was pretty good calling the River Bandits games here in the Quad Cities a few years ago.

https://qconline.com/sports/river_ba...f193ec1c8.html

[Chip R]

Who's that guy on the left?

[bounty37h]

He started the year I was born, and I turn 45 this August.
I wasn't able to listen to him much growing up as I lived in NC my whole life, but certainly have always known him and his voice.
My favorite memory will always be spring training in 1991 or 94 I think (forget which, times and details mix together even in great memories). I was there with my dad for the week as we did a few times together, watched minor league workouts that morning then headed to the stadium for the big league game. We got there early and caught Marty walking in the stadium and I asked for a picture and autograph. He stopped to talk with us for a minute and gave us more-several minutes talking Reds, and then UNC as he noticed my UNC shirt on. It was tourney time for UNC basketball, and we shared our thoughts. During the game later, the stadium broadcaster came on between innings and said he was told there was a UNC fan there who would probably love updates, and gave us scores over the intercom between innings, which was obviously Marty's doing.
I know many are tired of him and ready for him to go, but this act really made me a fan and has stuck with me since then.

[Blimpie]

This reminds me of when Cawood Ledford announced he was going to retire as the voice of the Kentucky Wildcats. I really can’t imagine replacing him. Someone will have to — and someone may do a very nice job over time — but it will never be the same.

So many memories come flooding back. I can put myself in very specific times and places remembering Marty calls.

I’m going to have to sync radio and TV more than ever this year. Hopefully the Reds can give him a fun season to ride off into the sunset.


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Ironically, Marty thought he would be in line for the UK PBP job when Ledford was gone. Because of his relationship with Jim Host and Westwood One, Marty considered himself a shoo-in. Instead, Ralph Hacker (who was Ledford's color analyst) got the gig and Marty was seething because he did not think Hacker had the skillset for a PBP announcer.