Today is a sad day for Reds fans, Cincinnati, and pretty much all of baseball. Last night, Joe Nuxhall passed away at Mercy Hospital in Fairfield after a long battle with lymphoma. We had been hoping for a nice recovery, but it seems things turned for the worse as of Thursday, when he later died that night, and his passing would make its way onto the news wire earlier this morning.
Most of us knew of Joe as Marty Brennaman's broadcaster partner for over thirty years, also handling some of the broadcasts up to this year on a part-time basis. Nux is also famous for being the youngest major league player at the age of 15 for the Reds in 1944. The "'ol left hander" spent some time as a pitcher until the 1960s, when he began broacasting with different partners, including Al Michaels, until Marty joined in 1974. Not only was Nux associated with the Reds and Cincinnati, the Hamilton native had lived in Fairfield since the 1970s, and in recent years had a foundation, which the Reds will continue to be a partner of.
I never got to personally meet Joe, but have heard him so many times outside of the broadcast booth, including in commercials with Marty for Kroger, and I last saw him on stage at Redsfest last year. I'm sure that this year's Redsfest will be a somber one, on December 7 and 8 at Duke Energy Center. In honor of Joe, the lights at Great American Ball Park have been turned off, except for the sign along Fort Washington Way, that is of Nux's most famous quote, "Rounding Third And Heading For Home." His statue on Crosley Terrace at the ball park has also been illuminated, and is set up for flowers as a memorial.
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