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By Michael D. Pitman

Staff Writer

Fans hope this will be the year that Joe Nuxhall rounds third and heads to the hall of fame.

Nuxhall, a former Cincinnati Red pitcher and semi-retired broadcaster, is again a nominee for the Ford C. Frick Award. The winner of the annual award for excellence in baseball broadcasting will be chosen in early 2007 from 10 finalists and inducted into the broadcaster's wing of the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.

Longtime Reds broadcast partner Marty Brennaman won the award in 2000.

"It would be nice to be in there with a guy you worked with for 35, 40 years," said Nuxhall, a Hamilton native and longtime Fairfield resident.

Nuxhall was last a finalist for the 2004 award, when he lost to San Francisco and Oakland broadcaster Lon Simmons.

Rob Butcher, Cincinnati Reds spokesman, said winning the award would be great for the millions of listeners who tuned in to "Marty and Joe" over the years.

"Most fans don't think of Reds baseball without thinking of Joe. Marty Brennaman, Red Barber and Russ Hodges are the only Reds broadcasters to have won the award," Butcher said. "That's a pretty elite group."

Butcher said the Reds organization would like to see Nuxhall get the same recognition nationally as he does locally.

"There may not be a Reds player or broadcaster as universally beloved to the fans as Joe Nuxhall," Butcher said.

Nuxhall isn't big on awards, although he said he enjoys looking over the plaques, trophies and honors he has earned. But memories are always better, he said.

The Ol' Lefthander's four most memorable baseball broadcasting moments — the 1975, 1976 and 1990 World Series' victories and Tom Browning's perfect game in 1988.

Nuxhall's most memorable non-baseball broadcast moment was with former wrestler "Macho Man" Randy Savage, a one-time minor league catcher with the Reds .

When asked about his then-upcoming match with wrestling champion Hulk Hogan, Savage saw a poster of his opponent.

"He grabbed the Hulk Hogan poster (we had hanging in the booth) and tore it all to bits and threw it out into the stands. All the fans stopped watching the game and watched what was happening in the booth," Nuxhall said.

In his long career, Nuxhall only regrets his retirement from full-time broadcasting in 2004.

"I never was really given an opportunity to make a comeback. I had some physical problems, but I was not given a chance to," Nuxhall said. "But that's history, and I hold no animosity against them."

Nuxhall is excited about the nomination, but remains humble.

"When you look at some of the guys that are on the ballot, it's pretty tough competition," Nuxhall said.

Readers can for the Ford C. Frick Award nominees through November online at www.baseballhalloffame.org.

Contact this reporter at (513) 755-5112 or mpitman@coxohio.com.