Cincinnati Icon Joe Nuxhall: His Baseball Is Already In The Hall Awaiting His Arrival

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- That's the baseball 15-year-old Joe Nuxhall used when he pitched his first game for the Cincinnati Reds in June 1944. He was the youngest pitcher ever, and the ball is in Cooperstown on display in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Officials plan to announce next month if the beloved Reds' player and radio broadcaster -- the old lefthander who passed away in November -- will be enshrined.

Bellwether buddy Bill Osinski spotted the ball and snapped a picture the other day at Cooperstown while on a pilgrimage. He also passed along some interesting Ohio trivia about the national pastime:

"Sure, Dayton Ohio's Orville and Wilbur Wright invented the airplane. Big deal. Just down the road in Cinncinnati, two other Wright boys -- Harry and George -- invented professional baseball. You can look it up, or you can see it in the museum galleries.

"Harry Wright was the manager, co-owner and centerfielder for the Cincinnati Red Stockings, America's first pay-for-play baseball team. George played shortstop. In 1869, the Red Stockings barnstormed the nation, traveling 12,000 miles, playing -- and winning -- 57 games. Upon their triumphant return, a grateful group of Cincinnati fans gave them a 27-foot-long bat to commemorate their achievment.

"A few years later, Harry took his team and , with slight modification, their nickname, to Boston, where they became the Red Sox.
Cincinnati fans can find plenty of other exhibits in the Hall that mark their team's long history. There's a colorized photo of the 1882 Red Stockings, an 1888 scorecard cover bearing a portrait of pitcher Billy Serad, an 1887 jersey worn by star catcher Buck Ewing, an official World Series program from the 1919 series won by the Reds but tainted by the Black Sox scandal, and a ball pitched by the recently-deceased Joe Nuxhall when he broke into the big leagues at the historically young age of 15.

"Sorry, Orville and Wilbur. How can simply starting the era of manned flight stack up against all that?"

--BillyO

Beloved Cincy Reds Announcer Joe Nuxhall Dies: Rounded Third, Now Safe At The Pearly Plate

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Joe Nuxhall, who pitched his first game for the Reds as a 15-year-old during World War II and became the team's beloved radio broadcaster, passed away last night. He was 79 and had been battling cancer for several years.

The morning Cincinnati Enquirer delivered to my home carried not a word about the old lefthander's death just before 11 p.m. There was time to get the story in the paper, and in another era it would have been there. But somebody balked or dropped the ball. The link above about Nuxhall's death is from the Cincinnati Reds' portal. And there's more about Joe at today's The Cincinnati Nation.

[UPDATE: 4:22 pm -- There's a great tribute to Joe at Weapons of Mass Discussion now. It captures the man, it captures what he was like, and it explains what he meant to the people of southern Ohio. Thanks, WMD.]

Nuxhall grew up in Hamilton. He never forgot his Ohio roots. He was homespun in the broadcast booth, definitely not slick or polished, and was a pure delight to hear. He made summer nights better -- it was glorious to have a radio, the Reds, a cold brew and Nuxy doing the play-by-play. People never lost the habit of standing on their patios or sitting on their porch steps when Nuxhall and his partner, Marty Brennaman, were on the radio. Nuxhall especially was part of the fabric of life in Cincinnati and all across southern Ohio. The tagline he used to end his shifts in the booth was, "The Old Lefthander is rounding third and heading for home." Well, he's been called home. No doubt he's safe and there's a crowd cheering him at the pearly plate.