I met him on one occasion, when he was going around with the Reds Caravan in the 1980s with Marty Brenneman. Nuxy was great. Just the nicest guy, who laughed, joked, kidded around with, and debated in a good-natured way all the fans in the crowd (it was in Oxford at Miami) who had come to talk a little baseball in February.
He then stuck around and talked to each and every one of the kids that wanted to talk after the program was over. And he did. We talked, and one of my favorite memories was when my friend Tammy, an Indians fan, expressed her consternation that the Tribe had traded Von Hayes for some guy named Julio Franco. Now, Tammy is about 5'2" tall, and Nuxy, who was 6'3" or so and a big man, put his big ol' arm around little Tammy and said, "Now, don't you worry, that Franco is a RABBIT." (That was back when Julio Franco was a rabbit.)
I may be biased ... OK, I AM biased, but I thought Joe Nuxhall was a great broadcaster. I live in Chicago now, and I heard Harry Carey for years, and I don't think he had anything on Nuxey. I listened to some of the best broadcasters there are in several different sports, and play-by-play or analyst, I think Joe was among the best ever.
Joe was a great community guy. Joe was very concerned about kids being brought up right, and about a community's commitment to its senior citizens. Nuxy had a vision for a better town, and he put his vision into action. Here are a few articles about that.
Here's a nice quote:
Despite his passing, many of Nuxhall's charitable initiatives will carry on. "Nuxhall was the honorary chairman of our committee to help school funding," said Paul Flood of Fairfield. "In his speech, he said the kids can't help themselves, we have to step up to help them. He always stepped up to help the community. It was never about him."
The great Hal McCoy of the Dayton Daily News wrote the following:
For many years, Nuxhall put on his old No. 41 uniform and pitched battingAnd this is one of my favorite Nuxy quotes:
practice and the competitive juices flowed. If a player hit too many line
drives, he might find the next pitch heading for his head, and as he hit the
dirt he'd hear that infectious Nuxhall laugh and a comment like, "Try hitting a
line drive from down there."
But he was beloved by players because Joe
had been there and done that. He thought like a ballplayer and he empathized
with them, spending many hours after games consoling young pitchers who had a
bad night.
"I had a lot those," Joe would tell them. And he had a lot of
very good ones
Nuxhall again is on the ballot for the broadcasters Hall
of Fame. He should already be there. When Brennaman was voted in, they should
have included Nuxy right then. The two are inseparable to fans. It was always
Marty & Joe.
The first time I met Nuxhall was in 1967 at a
basketball game at Miami University, a school he adopted and loved as his own
even though he never attended college.
I was introduced as a young reporter and Nuxhall said, "Son, just be
yourself. Always be yourself. Don't try to be anybody else."
It was sound advice for a guy who thought he wanted to be the next Jim
Murray or Red Smith. Nuxhall was true to his word. He never wanted to be Vin
Scully or Harry Caray. He never changed and never imitated. He was Hamilton Joe,
the ol' left-hander — a unique guy with a distinctive voice and an even more
distinctive style.
In my 35 years of covering the Reds, Nuxhall is in my
top three of all-time nice guys. Right now I can't think of who might be No. 1
or No. 2.
"You don't replace him," said Chris Welsh, a former Reds pitcher and currently a television broadcaster for the club. "Look how long it took for him to grow into what he was. It's like losing the biggest oak tree in your yard that's been there a century longer than any other tree. Now, all of a sudden, you have this barren spot. You fill it with memories of his voice."
There will never be another Joe Nuxhall.
