Courtesy the Cincinnati Enquirer

(October 5, 2010) Early in his Reds radio career, at the height of the Big Red Machine, a Philadelphia Phillies announcer asked Marty Brennaman a question he has never forgotten:

"Do you realize how fortunate you are?"

Brennaman, hired in 1974, had broadcast the Reds' World Championships his second and third year here. Longtime Phillies voice Byrum Saam wasn't as lucky.

"I've been broadcasting Phillies games since 1939," Saam told him, "and I've never been to a World Series."

The Reds have since won three World Series -- in 1975, 1976 and 1990. The Phillies won in 1980 and 2008.

Brennaman, now in his 37th season here, is looking forward this week to his first post-season Reds broadcasts in 15 years, since the Braves swept the Reds in 1995 National League Championship Series, and possibly his first World Series in 20 years.

"The prospect of getting back again excites me," says Brennaman, 68.

"Every pitch takes on a higher degree of importance. I think you rise to the occasion. I hope that it brings out the best in you," says Brennaman, whose call of Jay Bruce's walk-off homer Tuesday to clinch the Central Division was aired repeatedly Wednesday on ESPN Radio.

The 1990 wire-to-wire championship season holds special memories for Brennaman. It was his only World Series broadcast with his longtime partner in the booth, Joe Nuxhall.

"It was as much of a thrill for him as it was for the players on the field. He had to sit and watch in 1975 and 1976," Brennaman says.

Back then, teams were banned from doing post-season radio. In 1975, one announcer from each club - Brennaman and Dick Stockton with the Red Sox - appeared on NBC telecasts. In 1976, Brennaman did CBS Radio games.

"It hurt him (Joe) a little bit. I was an upstart. I could never find fault with the fact that he felt he was overlooked," Brennaman says.

As luck would have it, the Ol' Lefthander was at the mike for the 10th inning of Game Two in 1990, when the Reds' Joe Oliver drove in the winning run. Nux's call is one of the Reds' most famous audio clips.

"That 1990 team is my all-time favorite team. People are shocked when I say that, since I covered the '75-'76 teams, but everyone expected those teams to win," he says.

"When the season began, none of the so-called experts picked the 1990 team to do anything. It was completely unexpected," he says.

Twenty years later, he sees some parallels between the 1990 club and players wearing Reds uniforms today.

"Nobody gave this club a chance to win," he says.

Both teams featured a blossoming superstar (Eric Davis then, Joey Votto now) and solid bullpen. And both lost 10 of 16 games in September, stumbling into the playoffs.

"This team, like the 1990 team, gets along well with each other. This is the sport that demands you have some level of chemistry," says Brennaman, who received the Baseball Hall of Fame prestigious Ford C. Frick Award 10 years ago.

For the playoffs, the Reds will go with a three-man radio team. Brennaman and Jim Kelch will do play-by-play, with Jeff Brantley doing color. Kelch also may do roaming reports and interviews, says Karen Forgus, Reds senior vice president for business operations.

At this point, Marty's son, Thom, the Reds main TV voice this year, will not be part of the postseason radio plans, because of his conflicts with Fox's NFL football.

Thom's doing the Bengals-Tampa Bay game next Sunday, when the Reds play their third playoff game. He'll be Fox's No. 1 NFL announcer later this month when Joe Buck does the National League Championship Series and World Series.

Marty, whose contract expires this fall, says he's negotiating a new deal "to keep me around for a few years to come." Kelch and Brantley also are up for renewal.

"It's still fun. I can't imagine doing anything else," he says.

"I've been far more blessed than most announcers," he says.

"If I never make it back there again, I've already got three World Series rings."

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