And this one still belongs to the Reds!
Marty Brennaman's wife, Amanda, announced on her The Brennaman Report Facebook page that Marty will return to the Reds Radio Network booth for a 46th season.
"I have gotten a few questions about Marty and yes, he will be returning to the booth for the 2019 season," she wrote.
The first definitive confirmation that Brennaman will be back came in Amanda's first post on The Brennaman Report since Sept. 30, the Reds' last game of the 2018 season. Marty and Amanda spent most of October touring Italy and France, "and loved every second of it," she says.
Brennamn 76, told me the last week of the season that he wasn't sure if he would be back in 2019, for the Reds 150th anniversary of 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings, the first all-professional team.
"No decision yet," Brennaman texted me on Sept. 26, with four games left to play. Three days later, while calling the Reds-Pirates game on Saturday Sept. 29, Brennaman tipped his hand about his future: He told radio partner Jeff Brantley that he would make the trip to Monterrey, Mexico, when the Reds played the St. Louis Cardinals there on April 13-14, 2019.
Brennaman, who came to the Reds in 1974 to do games with Joe Nuxhall, has been on year-to-year contracts since his three-year deal expired at the end of the 2016 season.
Brennaman received the National Baseball Hall of Fame's Ford C. Frick Award in 2000. Longtime Reds announcer Waite Hoyt is one of eight nominees for the 2019 Frick Award. Hoyt was elected to the Hall of Fame for his pitching career in 1969.
So the pieces are starting to come together for the 2019 season: The Reds have a new manager in David Bell; Hall of Famer Brennaman back on the radio as our soundtrack for summer; and an overhaul of the Reds Hall of Fame and Museum. (I can't wait to see the display of ALL the Reds baseball cards through history).
Next we need a coaching staff, and most importantly, some starting pitching.
Great news! I'm thrilled that this one still belongs to the Reds!
