Rounding Third & Heading For Home
Author Greg Hoard Details The Life Of Cincinnati Reds' Joe Nuxhall
This article reviews Greg Hoard's book, Joe: Rounding Third & Heading for Home, a biography of the late Cincinnati Reds pitcher and broadcaster, Joe Nuxhall.
For many baseball fans, Joe Nuxhall was little more than the answer to a trivia question: the youngest pitcher in the game’s modern era. Others knew him as a broadcaster, but as one who never gained recognition as one of the game’s other great voices. But for those of us who live in the Midwest, Joe was an institution. His story is not merely that of a child prodigy or of a talented broadcaster; rather, as author Greg Hoard details in Joe: Rounding Third & Heading for Home, the Joe Nuxhall story comprises several stories: the tale of a small-town boy who struggled to maximize his talents (and minimize his temper) while competing with men several years his senior; the story of a boy of character who maintains his values and character while gaining exposure to the world around him; and the story of a life spent working in the game of baseball, gathering memories and making friends.
Youngest Pitcher in the Modern Era
During World War II, major league clubs lost several players to military service. Scouts searched high and low for players to replace the players-turned-soldiers. Fourteen-year-old “Hamilton Joe” Nuxhall was discovered by a scout who had traveled to his small Ohio hometown to watch Joe’s father, a talented pitcher who declined a contract in favor of a weekend city league and a life with his wife and children. The scout’s attention then turned to Joe, a hard-throwing lefthander. After months of consideration with his parents, Joe signed his first professional contract. However, the story of the wunderkind’s fairytale journey to the majors quickly came to a standstill. In his first game, Joe retired two batters before a line drive by future Hall of Famer Stan Musial shook his confidence and prolonged a big inning for Musial’s St. Louis Cardinals.
Minor League Baseball
Eight years passed before Joe returned to the big leagues – and this section of the book presents Hoard at his best. As Joe shuffled from one minor league team to another, Hoard excels at describing Joe’s experiences. Joe gained confidence and control at each stop, hoping to use his legendary temper to enhance his performance rather than detract from it. With each passing year, we see Joe grow from a wide-eyed teenager into an adult. He falls in love and marries. He pays more attention to the world around him – observing, for instance, the racial divide that existed while he played minor league ball in Birmingham. And he improved as a pitcher, prompting the Reds to invite him to spring training.
To end the story there would be to ignore Nuxhall’s major league career, which carried him to the age of thirty-eight. As a consequence, the story of Joe’s career includes numerous anecdotes about teammates, opponents, managers, owners, and broadcasters of his day. A particular yarn about a public address announcer calling a game in his boxer shorts on a scorching summer afternoon day makes the price of the book a bargain. Perhaps what is most impressive about Joe’s stories is that they do not reflect a tell-all mentality. Hoard and Nuxhall respect the private lives of their peers, so the stories they tell are entertaining without sounding malicious or titillating.
Broadcaster Joe Nuxhall
Nuxhall’s baseball stories made him an ideal candidate for the booth. The remainder of the book details Joe’s life as a broadcaster: his transition into the booth, old and new relationships with players and fans, and a love of the game that endured until his recent death. Even though Joe is gone, current and future fans can be grateful for this well-crafted story of a life spent in baseball.
