This week, The Extraordinary Times caught up with writer John Kiesewetter. Kiesewetter grew up in Middletown, where his favorite Reds player was pitcher Joe Nuxhall from Hamilton. He started his journalism career as a Middletown Journal summer intern while attending Ohio University. After he graduated from OU, the Cincinnati Enquirer hired him for a 13-week summer internship which he parlayed into a forty-year career, the last thirty as TV/Radio columnist. He has covered TV/media for WVXU-FM and WMUB-FM since 2015. Kiesewetter just published his first book, Joe Nuxhall: The Old Lefthander & Me—My Conversations with Joe Nuxhall about the Reds, Baseball & Broadcasting. Note: Join the author for a free public talk on Joe Nuxhall at Miami University’s Middletown campus, 6pm Tuesday November 9. The Old Lefthander & Me is available at Kiesewetter’s website, tvkiese.com, and at Joseph-Beth Booksellers, the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame, and Amazon. *What was your personal connection to the Old Lefthander? Being a lefthander, Joe Nuxhall has been my favorite Reds baseball player since I was 9, in 1962, when Nuxhall came up from the minors to go 5-0 for the Reds. I thought he was some young stud pitcher, but my Dad explained to me that Joe was the youngest Major League Baseball player at age 15 in 1944, then spent seven years in the minors before making the team in 1952. He was one of the Reds best pitchers in the 1950s. I put Joe Nuxhall's 1963 Topps baseball card in a frame, and placed it on my dresser. It's still on my dresser today. As the Enquirer's TV columnist, I got to meet Nuxhall and interview him many times. I always recorded those interviews, and they are the basis for my new book, Joe Nuxhall: The Old Lefthander & Me – My Conversations with Joe Nuxhall about the Reds, Baseball & Broadcasting. We talked about his 1950s and '60 teammates; his partnership (and off-air pranks) with Marty Brennaman; his achievements as a pitcher and batter; his "Star of the Game" interviews; and even his Kroger TV commercials. *What were Nuxhall's greatest attributes as a player? Joe Nuxhall loved to tell funny stories about his misadventures as a pitcher for the Reds in the 1950s and '60s – falling down trying to field balls on wet grass, losing his temper over umpires' calls, etc. But he was no joke as a player. He was an All-Star in 1955 and 1956. In 15 seasons with the Reds, he won 130 games, lost 109, with 1,289 strikeouts, 82 complete games, 20 shutouts and a 3.80 earned run average. Although he retired at the end of the 1966 season, he still holds the Reds record for pitching 15 seasons with the club. He was very popular with his teammates for his enthusiasm and love of the game. At the plate, he hit 15 home runs, and batted over .250 in seven of his 16 Major League seasons – including hitting .292 for the old Kansas City Athletics in 1961, which frequently used Joe to pinch hit. (As Nux loved to say, "If you swing the bat, you're dangerous.") I must add that Joe's attributes as a person – cheerfully chatting with fans, signing autographs, generously supporting charities, frequently speaking to groups throughout the Tristate – made him the most beloved Reds ever. *How was Nuxhall able to transition from the ball field to the broadcast booth? Joe Nuxhall was a gifted storyteller. He seemed to know everyone in the game, and could tell a story about them for hours -- without notes. I loved hearing him tell stories to groups or organizations, yet he didn't include them his 2004 book, Joe: Rounding Third and Heading for Home. That was the original impetus for writing a book. I wanted his stories preserved, prized and passed on to generations of Reds fans to keep his memory alive. Nuxhall began preparing for a possible broadcasting career by doing commentary on Miami University basketball games on Hamilton's WMOH-AM in the off season in the 1960s. Once when Miami had the ball, with the score tied and time running out, Nuxy yelled, "Shoot the damn thing!" The player threw up a shot, it went in, and Miami won. *Briefly summarize Nuxhall's legacy to this region. Nearly 15 years after his death, Joe Nuxhall remains a gentle giant of charity in Butler County. The Joe Nuxhall Miracle League Fields in Fairfield allows developmentally challenged people of all ages play the game Joe loved. They also can ride a merry-go-round and play miniature golf at the complex. Joe Nuxhall is the namesake of the character education program created by his son, Kim. College students play baseball in a wood bat league at Hamilton Foundation Field for a team named after Nux, the Hamilton Joes. Nuxhall chaired the 1994 committee for the bond issue to build Fairfield High School. You see streets named for Joe Nuxhall in Hamilton and Fairfield; a mural in Hamilton; and Marty & Joe Field and a Nuxhall statue in Fairfield's Waterworks Park. Another life-size statue depicts Nuxhall pitching outside Great American Ball Park on Joe Nuxhall Way in downtown Cincinnati. Next door is the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame, which houses the Marty and Joe Broadcast Exhibit. And there's my favorite Nuxhall legacy: The Joe Nuxhall Scholarships. More than $900,000 has been distributed to Butler County high school seniors in 36 years in the name of Joe Nuxhall, who never attended a day of college classes. And that's why $1 from every copy of The Old Lefthander & Me will be given to the Nuxhall Foundation for the scholarships fund.
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AuthorMatthew Smith, PhD (History). Public Programs at Miami University Regionals. Historian of Appalachia, the Ohio Valley, & the early American republic. Archives
February 2024
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