The Old Lefthander Is Back In The Booth

Excerpts from Todd Jones' column in the Columbus Dispatch:

Hop in your car tonight, drive through the darkness and let the voice take you back in time.

Listen to the weathered tone, the mangled grammar, the whistling "s" sound, the occasionally mispronounced name. Hear the dead air, when the voice forgets to fill the broadcast, providing a respite from a world otherwise filled with too much shouting.

Let the Ol' Left-hander take you home again tonight.

Yes, it'll be a blast tonight when Nuxhall, 76, returns to the Cincinnati Reds' radio broadcast booth. He'll fill in for his partner of 31 years, Marty Brennaman, as the Reds play three games in Milwaukee and a home game Monday against St. Louis.

Brennaman is missing the four games so he can return to his native North Carolina, where he will be inducted into the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Hall of Fame.

I just miss Nuxhall's voice. Miss his lack of ego. Miss how he wasn't technically proficient. Miss his historical anecdotes. Miss his chuckle.

This is no knock on Steve Stewart, Nuxhall's replacement in the booth.

Stewart does credible work, and he has handled with grace and humility the awkward role of stepping into the spikes of a Cincinnati icon.

"Steve does a good job," Nuxhall said. "I tell people to give him a chance. He knows baseball."

His voice just doesn't sound like home. Building familiarity takes time.

The psychic wounds from his forced retirement are healed.

"It could have been my decision to retire instead of somebody else's," Nuxhall said. "After 38 years, (the decision) was made by someone who probably didn't know a baseball from a banana. But I accept it. I have no animosity anymore."

His unpolished voice...sounding like a guy you could share a beer and laugh with...was always part of Cincinnati's summer.

Tonight, Nuxhall is briefly everyone's partner again. We're all rounding third together.

So what if Joe says tonight that a ball is hit to right left-center or credits a putout to a guy already removed from the game.

It'll sound lovely, a slice of the past making the present feel like home.