Q&A: Iconic broadcaster Brennaman talks statue, love for Reds fans

This story was excerpted from Mark Sheldon's Reds Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

Reds history spans more than 150 years, and one of the franchise's most beloved icons never played a single game. But Marty Brennaman and his broadcasting voice are linked to Cincinnati like no other.

That relationship will officially be symbolized on Sept. 6, when the Reds unveil a bronze statue of Brennaman outside of Great American Ball Park. Depicting Brennaman working behind a radio microphone -- which he did for the club from 1974-2019 -- the sculpture will join several others that greet fans on Crosley Terrace.

Local artist Tom Tsuchiya was commissioned to create the statue. Tsuchiya also did statues of Reds greats Johnny Bench, Tony Perez, Joe Morgan and Pete Rose -- among others.

Brennaman's statue is scheduled to be unveiled during a public dedication at 4 p.m. ET, followed by an onfield ceremony at 6 p.m. The Reds will play the Mets at 6:40 p.m.

• Marty Brennaman Statue Dedication

This week, I spoke with Brennaman -- the 2000 winner of the Ford C. Frick Award at the Baseball Hall of Fame -- about the statue and his appreciation for the fans who made it possible.

(Some answers were edited for length and clarity.)

MLB.com: How are you feeling about the unveiling as you get closer to the big day?

Brennaman: Well, I'm still kind of overwhelmed by it. It's something I never expected. It's been a number of months now since we've known, and at the same time, every time I think about it, I'm in wonderment about this whole thing and how it's played out and how it's going to end up on Sept. 6th.

MLB.com: What do you think this means to the fans who were able to listen to you over the 46 years you called games?

Brennaman: This never would have happened, Mark, had it not been for the acceptance I received all these years from the people that listened to the games on the radio going back to 1974, when I came here. Had someone told me then that 'You're going to work with the Reds on Feb. 1, 1974, you will retire on Sept. 26, 2019,' I would never have believed it. Had I not been accepted by the people that were used to listening to a pretty damn good broadcaster in Al Michaels, none of this would have ever happened for me.

This is bigger than the Hall of Fame for me, because it has to do with the fact that I was accepted for all of those years by the people who turned on the radio every night to listen to the Reds. Had they not liked my style or if my broadcasting had turned them off, I wouldn't have been around all that time. Of all the thank yous I have, there's none bigger than the ones to those people who religiously listened to Reds radio.

MLB.com: It's not always easy to get accepted in Cincinnati if you're not from there. But you're treated as if you are.

Brennaman: In that respect, it's a rather unique town. If you come from the outside, they reserve judgment on you. They're not quick to judge. They give you time and then make the determination, "Do we like this guy?" They rally around people in that town that they come to accept as one of them. They'll go to the end of the world for you. God rest his soul, that's the reason that Pete [Rose] was so revered in that town all through his years and the ups and downs. They still loved him, because he was a Cincinnati guy and born and raised there. In my case, I've been there for 50 years and I feel like I am one of them.

MLB.com: Did you have much input in your likeness for the statue?

Brennaman: I don't know if we had a lot of input. [My wife] Amanda and I were involved in the process from the get-go. Tom Tsuchiya, we spent three different sessions with him. None of them lasted less than a couple of hours. Amanda sat there under watchful eye while Tom did the things that he needed to do. He's a real perfectionist -- as is the guy who owns the foundry company, John Cline. We were there throughout the whole process.

Now, I have not seen the finished product, and that was by design. I want to see it just like everybody else on Sept. 6. I didn't want any say so in how it looked. But they wanted to know if I wanted Marty Brennaman with the hair or Marty Brennaman with no hair.

MLB.com: What did you go with?

Brennaman: I will let you see it. But they did give me the opportunity to say with or without. I gave them my answer. That was about the only thing. There are some things that Tom Tsuchiya referred to as "Easter eggs," where he said, 'You can give me things that you want me to put very unobtrusively on the sculpture. Things you hold dear in your heart. I'll work it in.’ He did it for Rose, Morgan, Bench and Perez and all those guys. I think that's kind of cool.

MLB.com: Switching gears, you had a hand in connecting the Reds’ front office to your friend Terry Francona. How do you feel that's been working out this season with where the Reds are now?

Brennaman: I'm thrilled with the way things have gone and the way the players have reacted to him. They play hard for him. They like him. They trust him. All the things that have made him over the last 25 years, the best manager in baseball. I don't know how it would have played out under somebody else. When the announcement was made -- I said it then, and I will stick by it -- of all the years that the Castellini family has owned the franchise, they have never made a bigger addition than when they hired him.

MLB.com: This summer, you took a special trip to Cape Cod to be with your grandson, Luke, during his first season as a professional broadcaster. What do you think of his entering the family business?

Brennaman: He's got a chance to be pretty good. He was in the town of Harwich and did the games for them. One thing [former Reds broadcaster and Brennaman’s son] Thom and I both told him is when you get through a summer broadcasting baseball in the Cape Cod League, you're going to find out whether you're going to want to be a baseball broadcaster or not. Because it's virtually every day, 40-some games plus the postseason. He walked away from it with nothing but a good impression. I think he's already looking forward to going back next summer and doing it again.

MLB.com: Maybe in 50 years, he'll have a statue next to yours?

Brennaman: Well, I'll be looking down on him -- if it happens -- and smiling a bit.