Voices of Summer: Ranking Baseball's 101 All-Time Best Announcers (42 page)

MARTY BRBNNAMAN

"Home is the place," Robert Frost wrote, "where when you have go there,
they have to take you in." Cleveland took in ex-pitcher Herb Score as a
mikeman; Detroit, Harry Heilmann; Milwaukee, Ernie Johnson.

"If they liked you as a player," Johnson said, "they'll give you the benefit
of the doubt in the booth." Joe Nuxhall would agree, having pitched for and
called the Reds for more than a half-century. Each broadcast cited hearth:
"This is the 01' Lefthander rounding third and heading for home."

Home was named for the Society of the Cincinnati, a group of Revolutionary
War officers founded by George Washington. The society honored the Roman
patriot Cincinnatus, who returned to farming after serving his city in battle.
Born in Hamilton, 26 miles from Cincinnati, Nuxhall at 15 began to serve his.

By 1944, castoffs and rookies ruled major-league baseball. Rosters
pulsed 4-F. Most players were at war. On June 10, the bigs' youngest-ever
faced St. Louis. "`Holy smoke! I'm in trouble now,' I kept thinking," said Joe:
two outs, five walks, a wild pitch, two hits, and five earned runs.

Nuxie re-entered high school, toiled seven years in the bush, and rejoined the Reds in 1952. Solace is where you find it. He went 135-117,
won as many as 17 games, and made two All-Star teams. In 1956, Cincinnati
crashed a record-tying 221 homers. Joe's luck crashed, too.

"In all," he said, "my baseball career spanned 23 years"-all but one in the
Reds system. In 1961, Nuxhall was dealt to Kansas City. Cincy won the pennant.

April 1, 1967. The Cincinnati Post scrawls a non-April Fool's screed: "Nuxhall
Retires, To Air Reds Tilts [WCKY color]." Next year added play-by-play;
1970, subtracting Crosley Field. Home plate was helicoptered to the 01'
Lefthander's antithesis: Riverfront, cold and trendy; Joe, less hip than Cincinnatus. "He mangles prose, has a rough voice, and little training," wrote TSN.
Each homer sired "Get up, get up, get outta here!"-to the Rhineland,
soothing like the Ohio.

In 1974, Marty Brennaman attached to Nuxie like ticks on a hound.
"I'd been a big fish in a small Virginia pond. My first year, I shadowed Joe
like a shadow." In time, chatter included Marty's tomato plants, Nuxhall's
golf hook, and food that showed each as, uh, not exactly a gourmet.
"We'll talk for hours," said Brennaman, "God knows about who the hell
knows what."

Joe was prim; Marty vaguely naughty. Tying a tape machine and monitor,
engineer Mike Markward put Nuxie's straightness to the test. "The Reds lead
[the TV game], 4-2, and here's Joe Nuxhall," says Brennaman from San Francisco. Mike pushes a button. The monitor shows the X-rated Deep Throat. "Joe
panics," laughs Markward. "He fears an electronic glitch-this is being seen
in Cincy!"

Later Nuxhall unearthed the hoax. Less puzzling was his product, which
could hit, pitch, and lure. Eight straight years of two million attendance. Tom
Seaver, tossing Riverfront's first no-hitter by a Red. Six Redlegs, to mime
Marty, becoming MVP in the seventies. The next decade needed a less conventional come-on. "Believe in the WWF [World Wrestling Federation]," Joe
told his partner. "You're not a good American otherwise."

Crashing the booth in dress and cape, Randy "Macho Man" Savage tore a
life-like poster of Hulk Hogan. Marge Schott hit the roof. "So we find something else," mused Nuxie, using a shrug, gesture, or raised eyebrow to commune. "Each knows where the other's going," said Brennaman's wife, Sherri.
"They have a special relationship."

Entering Cooperstown, Marty cited "Hamilton Joe," then stopped,
unable to speak.

In 1992, Nuxhall beat prostate cancer. In 2001, he had a heart attack, healed,
and was named all-time Reds most popular player. "This is better than being
in Baseball's Hall of Fame, for Reds fans have honored me." In 1950s Indiana,
David Letterman trudged with dad to Crosley. Later, on CBS TV, he recalled
a Sports Illustrated story.

"After each game," Dave said, "Joe Nuxhall would have a six-pack of
Michelob beer and ... these big quarter-pound sticks of Cracker Barrel
cheese." Laughing, Nuxie amended SI. "I had three beers, and ... Dick
Wagner jumped on me, because Stroh was then our sponsor!" He confessed
liking cheese. "Any kind. The doctor said, `I can't tell you had a heart attack."'

Joe could-also, 2003 cancer. That May he and Marty had a Bobble Head
Night. Next year, retiring, Nuxie aired sixty games-"one for each I've been
with the club. I want to go on, but they want me out. I had to get it [the
reason] off my chest."

In October 1990, the champion Reds visited the White House. ThenPresident George Bush ended his talk with "rounding third and heading for
home." The 01' Lefthander's bronze likeness now guards the entrance to
Cincy's new Great American Ballpark. Almost every bystander takes Joe
Nuxhall in.

JOE IVUXHALL

William F. Buckley said famously that he would rather be governed by the first
100 people in the Boston telephone directory than by Harvard University's
faculty. As a child, I would rather Vince Lloyd list them than hear most Voices
do a game.

He engaged his people, had a throaty cloud-nine voice, and defined the
Friendly Confines. "I remember trying to tune in Cubs broadcasts from deep
in Missouri," wrote Mike Isaacs, then in college. "Once I could hear Vince's
voice, I was home."

Born: 1917, South Dakota. Graduated: Yankton College. Early stops:
Sioux City, Bloomington, and Peoria. Arrived, WGN Chicago: 1949.
Unknown: Why did the 1950 and 1954-86 Cubs announcer bloom eight
miles from Wrigley Field?

"Luck of the draw," said the 1957-64 White Sox broadcaster. "Wasn't that
much success on Chicago's North Side." On the South, '59's Hose won a pennant. The '60ers drew a franchise record 1,644,460. A photo of John F.
Kennedy and aide David Powers at the 1961 Sox opener shows them reading
The Sporting News. On WGN TV's "Leadoff Man," JFK became the first U.S.
president interviewed on television at a baseball game.

Lloyd: "Mr. President, have you had an opportunity to do any warming
up for this, sir?"

Kennedy: "Well, we've just been getting ready here today."

Lloyd: "Throwing nothing but strikes? Very good."

President: "I feel it important that we get, ah, not be a nation of just spectators, even though that's what we are today, but also a nation of participants
-particularly to make it possible for young men and women to participate
actively in physical effort."

Leaving, Lloyd asked about Mrs. Kennedy. JFK smiled and said, "Well,
it's Monday. She's home doing the wash."

One day Roger Maris agrees to "Leadoff Man."Taking the air, Vince finds
him MIA. "I need a guest," he tells Whitey Ford, who grabs Yogi Berra,
who nabs Mickey Mantle. Lloyd gapes: "I've got three great names." Suddenly, Maris makes it four. "I just got a call from my wife in Kansas City.
She gave birth to a son!" The post-game show was sponsored by Hair
Arranger conditioner. Vince gave a bottle to guest Jim Rivera. The outfielder said, "Gee, thanks a lot," thinking it shaving lotion. "I use this very time I
shave my face."

Often the Cubs wanted to cut their throat: Ernie Banks, an exception.
Mr. Cub hit a record five slams one year, whaled 48 homers in another, and
became two-time MVP. Once, hit by a fastball, he left on a stretcher.

"Ernie, how can you be so dumb as to get hit in the nose?" teammate
Hank Sauer jibed.

"If that ball hits you in the nose," said Banks, "it carries for a homer."

Lloyd telecast the 1954-64 Wrigleys. In March 1965, their radio Voice
was killed when his car skidded nearly 200 feet into a truck. Jack Quinlan
had played baseball, spurned a Dodgers contract, and graduated from Notre
Dame. Three years later he made Chicago via Tuscola and Peoria. "Twentyeight," Jack said in 1955, "and I'm with the Cubs." In 1960, he did NBC
Radio's World Series.

"He had the big sound which brought the station greatness," said WGN
sports editor Jack Rosenberg. "His voice possessed the firmness of a heavy
handshake. The resonance of a finely tuned harp. The clarity of a starry night.
The quality of a prayer." Jack Brickhouse likened his death to losing a younger
brother.

"[Cubs analyst] Lou Boudreau was my best friend," said Vince. "He said
he'd quit if I didn't take Quinlan's job." Lloyd succeeded, if not replaced, him.
Lip helped: new skipper Leo Durocher. In July 1967, the Cubs took first that
late in the year for the first time since 1946. More typical: blowing August
1969's 9 1 /2-game lead.

Anybody can have a bad century, Lloyd said. He didn't know that the
1970s would be worse.

By 1975, the Cubs had been lousy since HarryTruman's first full year as president. Pittsburgh won a game, 22-0. Next year, the Mets' Dave Kingman hit
the third frame house on the east side of Kenmore Avenue. "A little higher,"
said Lloyd, "and the ball goes through a window and smashes aTV set [tuned
aptly to Wrigley Field]."

When a Cub went deep, Vince rang a cowbell and yelped, "Holy Mackerel!" Said Isaacs: "It felt like a pennant-winning shot the way he called it,
rather than the last hurrah of a team going nowhere." The '73-83ers only once
made .500.The optimist sees half a glass of water and says, "It's half-full."

The pessimist says, "It's half-empty."

The Cubs fan says, "When's it going to spill?"

1983: The booth crams Boudreau, Harry Caray, Milo Hamilton, Steve
Stone, and Lloyd. "Too many!" said Vince, trading play-by-play for "Leadoff
Man," postgame radio, and back-room deal.

"[50,000-watt] WGN is so strong, we used to figure, `Hey, anyone who
wants to hear the Cubs can there."' Differing, their new owner, The Tribune
Company, had Lloyd build a 60-outlet radio network in Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Indiana.

"The first year away from play-by-play was hardest," he said, "sort of a
phased withdrawal." In 1986, the last phase began: Vince retired to South
Dakota, (lying in 2003 of stomach cancer.

"I was lucky to do both Chicago teams." We were, hearing him.

VINCE LLOYD

Free local-team TV was baseball's once-foundation. Pay-cable mostly seemed
a distant possibility. For a fee, the customer could bloat their programming
menu. "The problem," said Mel Allen, "was that cable systems only existed in
some places, not others." Satellite could link them. Ted Turner pined to
please-thus, grow.

In 1976,Turner bought the Braves, upped their TV schedule, and decided to rename WTCG Atlanta SuperStation WTBS. "The Braves'll tie the sticks
to the big-time," he said, sagely. It was an offer that even Don Vito Corleone
could not refuse.

Eventually, cable bulged baseball's stage. In turn, baseball swelled cable's
audience. The pivot was 1982. "`TBS was just one offering," said Ted. "People
weren't aware how it could sell the Braves a world from Georgia." Atlanta
won a bigs record first 13 games: suddenly, people were.

The streak, one said, was "the `two-by-four' that hit America between the
eyes." A Storm Lake, Iowa, sign read "The Atlanta Braves: Iowa's Team." In
Valdez, Alaska, a Braves Fan Club chapter pooled cash, bought a screen, and
renamed its bar "The Braves Lounge." In a decade, WTBS households leapt
7,000 percent.