Franchester Martin (Marty) Brennaman was born July 28th, 1952 in Portsmouth, Virginia. He would go on to become one of Baseball’s all-time greatest Sports Announcers. Brennaman graduated from the University of North Carolina. In 1974 Brennaman was selected to succeed Al Michaels as the Cincinnati Reds play-by-play announcer – beating out over two-hundred applicants. Marty was then paired with former Reds pitcher Joe Nuxhall. Marty became known for his traditional signal of a Reds victory “And this one belongs to the Reds!” The phrase was coined during his second game with the team.
Throughout Marty’s career he was fortunate enough to call the play-by-play on defining baseball moments such as: Hank Aarons record-tying 714th career home run in 1974, Tom Browning’s perfect game in 1988, Ken Griffey Jr.’s 500th career home run in 2004, Reds World Series victories 1975, 1976, and 1990, as well as the record breaking hit 4,192 by Pete Rose on September 11th, 1985. In 2000 Marty received the Ford C. Frick award, presented each year by the National Baseball Hall of Fame to a broadcaster for “major contributions to the game of baseball.” Marty is one of only two Reds announcers to be awarded this honor.
