Brennaman signs off for last time after 46 years

CINCINNATI -- Before Thursday’s game vs. the Brewers -- the last one legendary radio voice Marty Brennaman would ever work before retirement -- Reds manager David Bell badly wanted to give him a final chance to say his signature phrase.

“And this one belongs to the Reds!” is the call every fan of the team can’t wait to hear at the conclusion of a winning game. But alas, it wasn’t to be, as Cincinnati was handed a 5-3 loss by Milwaukee at Great American Ball Park to complete a three-game series sweep. Although they couldn’t win, players, coaches and staff spilled out of the dugout after Alex Blandino ended the game by striking out and saluted towards Brennaman in the radio booth.

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“It was something all the players, coaches and whole team got together and decided to do that,” said Bell, who grew up in Cincinnati listening to Brennaman on the radio. “It’s the least we can do, just one gesture we could do from the field just to show a little bit of all of our appreciation for his career and how happy we are for him going into this next chapter of his life.”

Brennaman’s last victory call came on Sept. 18, a 3-2 10-inning win over the Cubs at Wrigley Field. He was off when the Reds beat the Mets on Saturday and will not work the final three games for the team at Pittsburgh, having capped 46 seasons behind the microphone.

Reds catcher and Indianapolis native Tucker Barnhart, who made a pinch-hitting appearance and struck out in the eighth inning, was in the clubhouse listening to Brennaman call the end of the game. Barnhart developed a friendship with Brennaman away from the ballpark, in part because they often traveled together in the winter during Reds Caravan.

“It turned into a friendship that I hold really near and dear to my heart,” Barnhart said. “Today, was rough. I was back there listening to him sign off for the last time, which honestly, I was trying to hold back tears because he reminds me of growing up. In Indy, we would drive to baseball tournaments and through the static, we just got 700 [WLW] enough on the radio to listen to Reds games. We would drive to games and I would listen to Marty call games.”

The Reds took a 1-0 first-inning lead on Aristides Aquino’s two-out home run to left field, the rookie’s 18th of the season. But the game came apart on rotation ace Luis Castillo during a four-run top of the fourth inning.

Castillo walked the bases loaded before Orlando Arcia hit a two-out line drive to left-center field. Left fielder Josh VanMeter attempted a running catch, but the ball skipped off his glove and deflected to center fielder Phillip Ervin, who bobbled it. That allowed all three runners to score. Arcia came home on a Ben Gamel RBI double to left field to make it a 4-1 game.

“Josh went a long way for it. It hit his glove and he wasn’t able to hold on to it,” Bell said. “It turned out to be the play in the game that made the difference.”

In his final start of 2019, Castillo gave up five earned runs on five hits with four walks and eight strikeouts to finish 15-8 with a 3.40 ERA in 32 starts and 190 2/3 innings.

The Reds staged an eighth-inning rally as they loaded the bases after scoring a run on José Iglesias’ RBI double. But Cincinnati could not come back all the way as José Peraza ended the inning with a fly out to right field.

“That was the shot,” Bell said.

Josh Hader retired the side in order in the ninth, capped by Blandino’s check swing for the strikeout. While there was no celebratory call from Brennaman, there was plenty that he spoke of during an emotional, tear-filled sign-off while next to broadcaster partner Jeff Brantley.

“All the hullabaloo that has been created over me retiring has been misplaced,” Brennaman said. “I feel like the people that welcomed me into this city ... [he paused to collect himself] ... when I came in 1974 and have maintained that love and affection through all these years. They're the ones that I should be giving back to rather than they give to me.

“This has been a most surreal day for me today, getting up and thinking about broadcasting my last baseball game, which at times was almost incomprehensible to me, it was hard for me to come to grips with that part of it. But the retirement thing was an easy thing for me to do because there are places I want to go and things I want to do with [my wife] Amanda and I'm healthy.”

Brantley, who joined Brennaman before the 2007 season, having indirectly assumed the role longtime fan favorite Joe Nuxhall held for decades, offered his gratitude.

“You did something for me that I don't know that anybody's done that except my Dad,” Brantley said to Brennaman. “You have protected me, you have taken care of me from day one that I walked into this booth. And that that's part of the reason that these folks here in Cincinnati accepted this country guy, because Marty Brennaman accepted me, and I can't thank you enough for that.”

Brennaman thanked his booth mates -- including Brantley, engineer Dave Armbruster and fellow broadcaster Tommy Thrall. Brennaman and Brantley revealed that Thrall will become the primary play-by-play voice in 2020 after he spent this year filling in and doing the postgame show.

“I just hope that the people now going forward will accept Tommy Thrall as well as they accepted me 46 years ago,” Brennaman said. “He's a very talented young man.”

Brennaman, 77, came to the Reds in 1974 and replaced another future legend in Al Michaels. Despite not being a native of Cincinnati, it didn’t take long for Brennaman to be accepted by the city and Reds fans and his following has reached icon status. He and Amanda plan to continue living in town while in retirement.

“And I'm proud to say that I'll be here until the day that they pass muster on me for the final time,” Brennaman said. “I'm proud to say I'm a Cincinnatian and for those who are here today, and for those who are listening wherever they might be, just know how much you're loved and [pause] how much you’re appreciated. That's all I got.”

That wasn’t quite all as the Reds hosted thousand of fans on the field for a postgame “Marty Party” where he could say goodbye from a stage set up on the pitcher’s mound. It was a fitting way to honor the career of a man who meant so much to the Reds, Reds fans and the city.