[Westside]

2021 is proving to be a beast to MLB so far in 2021.  Hammering Hank Aaron, the true all-time homerun king, has died at the age of 86.   I am not old enough to ever remember him playing, but I always liked Hank and always thought he was a class act.  MLB has truly lost a great one.

[Hoot Gibson]

I agree. He was a class act and a humble man to have been such a great player. His record for career home runs may never have been broken if MLB had not tolerated the obvious use of steroids by players that came along later.

[Old School Hound]

Truly a class act and humble gentleman. I can't even fathom the kind of racist taunts and insults this man had to deal with his entire life. Yet he remained class personified. Barry Bonds was a terrific baseball player, but Barry is no Hank, as far as I'm concerned.

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I remember watching him tie Babe Ruth 's homerun record in Riverfront Stadium on opening day in 1974 off of "Cactus" Jack Billingham. It was Marty Brennaman's first regular season game as the Reds' radio announcer.


Here's video of #714 with the great Milo Hamilton in the call:

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Here's  Marty's call of Hank's #714 . As a young 31-year old announcer calling his first game for the Reds, Marty had himself a historic call from day one. 

NOTE:There's a bonus call on here that is one of my all-time favorites. The Reds and Giants were playing the first game of a doubleheader, later that same year , just after the All-Star break in '74.   It had been a crazy, crazy game with the Giants going up big and the Reds coming back again and again.  The Giants had gone up 13-9 with the Reds batting in the bottom of the ninth. The Reds scored five in the ninth , culminating with a two-run ding dong by Tony Perez. I was listening to the game on the radio from my grandparents house. I'll never forget it.  Marty went crazy.