Brennaman’s long-awaited Hall of Fame induction takes place on rainy night at GABP

The Reds moved the ceremony from the field to The Handlebar in the right-field stands on Friday night, and that’s where Brennaman accepted a hug from Jim Day, the emcee for the event from Bally Sports Ohio, a red jacket from Reds owner Bob Castellini and applause from Reds legends such as Eric Davis, Sean Casey, Adam Dunn and Barry Larkin who were sitting to his right.

As Brennaman spoke, video of his speech appeared on the big screen in center field so the thousands of fans who waited out the rain delay could see him. His wife Amanda and other family members, including his son Thom, watched from behind him in the Handlebar.

Brennaman put the honor above his induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., because he was speaking to Reds fans, who adopted him when he started the job as the team’s play-by-play radio voice in 1974.

Brennaman held the position through the 2019 season, spending most of those seasons in the booth with another Reds Hall of Fame member Joe Nuxhall. He said he received many emails and text messages after his retirement. One from former Reds infielder Ron Oester, who was one of many former Reds in attendance Friday for a Legends softball game that took place after the induction ceremony, stood out.

“When Ron played, he and Joe were very tight,” Brennaman said, “and Ron didn’t particularly care for me because I was critical of his play at times. It was a good cop, bad cop deal. I was the bad cop. Joe was the good cop. When I retired, Ron sent me a long text message and he and I got to know each other better like a lot of players that have retired and look at my job a little differently. He said nice things about me for two or three paragraphs, and when he ended it, he said, ‘The thing that amazed me most in all those years is someone didn’t kick your (butt).’”

Brennaman had a reputation for telling it like it is, and although he called three World Series championships, the Reds had losing records in 16 of his last 19 seasons, giving him plenty of time for criticism.

However, the Reds embraced him from the start, giving him confidence as he tried to replace another broadcasting legend, Al Michaels, just as the franchise was nearing the peak of the Big Red Machine years.

“I was a little nervous,” Brennaman said. “I was coming into a club that was eminently talented, incredibly good at what they did, and I really did not know how i was going to be accepted. But I was accepted by people like Sparky Anderson, Johnny Bench, Tony Perez, Joe Morgan, Pete Rose, Davey Concepcion and Cesar Geronimo — all those guys. They didn’t have to embrace me, but they did.”

Fourteen years after the Reds won back-to-back championships in 1975 and 1976, they won it all again in 1990, sweeping the Oakland A’s in the World Series.

“With all due respect to the Big Red Machine, the greatest team I’ve ever been associated with, the 1990 club was my favorite team of all time,” Brennaman said. “It was a team that transcended everything. Whether you were white or African American or Latin American, everyone had everyone’s back. Everyone loved each other. It was such a fun team to watch.”

Brennaman has spent his first two years of retirement playing on golf courses he never got to visit during his working days — such as Bandon Dunes in Oregon earlier this summer — and traveling. He and his wife drove Route 66 across the country earlier this year, for example. He also spends time with his seven grandkids and shared a photo of grandson Luke’s lacrosse game in the spring on his Instagram account.

Brennaman has not spent a lot of time at Great American Ball Park this season, but it was obvious he was happy to be back Friday. He closed his speech by saying, ‘I love you folks. I appreciate your acceptance 48 years ago. God bless you all. This is a big thrill for me.”