Brennaman鈥檚 family and friends and Reds officials will participate in the official unveiling on Crosley Terrace, the Reds announced Wednesday.
Gates will open immediately after the ceremony for the 6:40 p.m. Reds-New York Mets game. Each fan in attendance will receive an 鈥渙versized commemorative game ticket honoring Marty鈥檚 bronze statue,鈥� the Reds said.
A 6 p.m. pregame ceremony on the field will 鈥渃elebrate Marty鈥檚 statue and his career.鈥�
The life-size bronze depiction of Brennaman 鈥� seated and wearing headphones, with a microphone in one hand and scorebook in the other, and a media guide nearby 鈥� was created by local artist Tom Tsuchiya.
The Reds Hall of Fame and Museum also announced a to honor Brennaman, the radio voice of the Reds for 46 seasons. Fans can donate from $46 to $15,000 toward the statue project, and buy a personalized brick in the area surrounding his statue for $199 or $399. Bricks will be installed in November.
The statue will located on the south side of the Reds office building, facing Joe Nuxhall Way and the statues of Reds鈥� greats Joe Morgan and Pete Rose which greet fans as they enter Crosley Terrace. Brennaman told me in March that it was the perfect location.
鈥淧ete Rose and Joe Morgan were my two closest friends in all the years I worked here, in terms of uniformed personnel minus the managers,鈥� Brennaman said.
ORIGINAL POST MARCH 21, 2025: 鈥淭his is No. 1 for me,鈥� says retired Reds broadcaster Marty Brennaman, who will be honored with a bronze statue Sept. 6 outside Great American Ball Park.
The statue means more to Brennaman than going into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Coopertown, being inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame, or the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame.
鈥淢y career would not have been what it was had it not been for me being accepted by the people who were listening to the broadcast,鈥� says Brennaman, hired by the Reds in 1974 with no Major League Baseball broadcasting experience.
鈥淭he national things are wonderful, being in my profession and being accepted into the broadcasters鈥� wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame. But none of that would have happened had I not been accepted as I was in this town. So this town鈥檚 acceptance is much more important to me than whatever notoriety I may have gained from being in the Baseball Hall of Fame or the Radio Hall of Fame.鈥�
The Reds will honor Brennaman with a life-size bronze statue depicting him sitting behind the Reds radio microphone. It will be located against the west wall of the Reds office building, with Marty looking at the statues of Reds鈥� greats Joe Morgan and Pete Rose greeting fans as they enter Crosley Terrace.
Brennaman says it鈥檚 the perfect location.
鈥淧ete Rose and Joe Morgan were my two closest friends in all the years I worked here, in terms of uniformed personnel, minus the managers,鈥� he says.
鈥淧eople will come to the ballpark, and the first thing they鈥檒l see are Morgan and Rose and me. It鈥檚 as good of a location as you could ever put something like this.鈥�
Not far away will be a statue honoring his longtime broadcast partner, Joe Nuxhall, the youngest pitcher in Major League Baseball history at 15. Nuxhall was the first Reds star to be honored with a statue in 2003, four months after the opening of Great American Ball Park. Since then, the Reds have erected statues of catcher Ernie Lombardi, slugger Ted Kluszewski, baseball hit king Pete Rose and Hall of Famers Johnny Bench, Frank Robinson, Tony Perez and Morgan.
Honoring a beloved local broadcaster is not unique throughout baseball. At least eight announcers have tributes: Jack Buck (St. Louis Cardinals); Harry Caray (Chicago Cubs); Bob Uecker (Milwaukee Brewers); Vin Scully (Los Angeles Dodgers); Ernie Harwell (Detroit Tigers); Dave Niehaus (Seattle Mariners); Harry Kalas (Philadelphia Phillies) and Jerry Coleman (San Diego Padres).
Brennaman鈥檚 honor comes 25 years after he was enshrined at Cooperstown. (And 10 years after I first suggested a statue for Brennaman in a WVXU blog post called 鈥淎 Birthday Present for Marty Brennaman鈥� on his 73rd birthday on July 28, 2015.)
鈥淚鈥檇 be less than honest if I didn鈥檛 say that there were times when I thought about it. You know, [I was there] 46 years. But then I鈥檇 dismiss it. I never paid a lot of thought to it. At a fleeting moment I would think about a bronze statue being put out there for me,鈥� he says.
Reds Hall of Fame Director Rick Walls and other Reds officials surprised Brennaman and his wife, Amanda, with the news two weeks ago at Crosley Terrace outside the ball park. They had been invited to the Reds Hall of Fame to discuss plans for a Big Red Machine reunion before the Reds-Padres game Saturday, June 28.
When someone asked Brenneman where his statue was, Brennaman joked, 鈥淥h, mine鈥檚 in the mail.鈥�
That鈥檚 when Walls said: 鈥� 鈥業t鈥檚 going right here.鈥� And I was blown away. I was stunned. And Amanda started crying. And when Amanda starts crying it鈥檚 big, because she doesn鈥檛 do it very often. It was a nice way of telling me they were going to do this for me.鈥�
Walls told them the club had been talking about the Brennaman statue for two years. It will be sculpted by Tom Tsuchiya, the internationally recognized artist who has made all the Reds players鈥� statues outside Great American Ball Park. He also creates plaques for the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown and the Reds Hall of Fame.
