Marty Brennaman talks about his latest honor: a bronze statue at GABP
Hall of Fame broadcaster Marty Brennaman talks about his most recent honor: a bronze stature in front of Great American Ball Park.
A bronze statue of Marty Brennaman, who served as the “voice of Reds baseball” for generations, will soon be unveiled outside Great American Ball Park.
The Cincinnati Reds announced that a statue of the Hall of Fame broadcaster will be unveiled outside of the park on Saturday, Sept. 6. The public dedication, which will be attended by Brennaman and his family and friends, is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. and will be followed by an on-field ceremony at 6 p.m.
The Reds are also slated to host the New York Mets that day at 6:40 p.m.
According to a press release, the statue will depict Brennaman behind the radio microphone, as he was for 46 years with the Reds. It will be placed near the Reds’ front office building facing Joe Nuxhall Way, as a way “to welcome fans as they arrive at Crosley Terrace.”
Oversized commemorative game tickets honoring Brennaman’s bronze statue will be given to all fans attending the game, per the release.
Cincinnati native Tom Tsuchiya, an internationally recognized sculptor known for his public art, including statues of Cincinnati Reds players and the 1869 Red Stockings Pavilion at Great American Ball Park, was commissioned to create the piece.
The Brennaman statue will be the ninth statue at Great American Ball Park, all sculpted by Tsuchiya, and will join those of other Reds legends, including Pete Rose, Tony Perez, Joe Nuxhall, Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, Ernie Lombardi, Ted Kluszewski and Frank Robinson.
Who is Marty Brennaman?
From 1974 to 2019, Marty Brennaman was the Cincinnati Reds‘ play-by-play commentator on the radio, providing “the soundtrack to some of the most unforgettable and historic moments in Reds history,” the release said.
Brennaman and Reds Hall of Fame pitcher Joe Nuxhall called games together for 31 seasons, becoming one of the longest-running duos in the history of baseball broadcasting.
The 83-year-old has been inducted into his fair share of halls of fame, including the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame, the National Radio Hall of Fame and the Reds Hall of Fame in 2021. In 2000, he also received the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s Ford C. Frick Award, an honor bestowed annually on a broadcaster “for major contributions to the game of baseball.”