June 10, 1944: Joe Nuxhall: MLB's Youngest Player

Joe Nuxhall, 1944

June 10, 1944, 80 years ago: The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cincinnati Reds, 18-0 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. The Cardinals, on their way to their 3rd straight National League Pennant, had lost fewer players to the manpower drain of World War II than most teams. The Reds had lost a lot, to the point where, in this game, they fielded the youngest player in the history of Major League Baseball.

Joseph Henry Nuxhall was born on July 30, 1928 in Hamilton, Ohio, about 20 miles north of Crosley Field. By the time he was 15 years old, he was 6-foot-2, 190 pounds, and had a hard lefthanded fastball, but had trouble with his control. The Reds signed him on February 18, 1944, and, with permission from Hamilton High, they put him in uniform for Opening Day. On June 10, they put a Reds uniform with Number 43 on the back on him, and put him into the 9th inning of a game that was already 13-0 to St. Louis. He was 15 years, 10 months and 11 days old.

At first, he looked okay. The 1st batter he faced was George Fallon, and he got Fallon to ground to short. Then he walked Mort Cooper -- the opposing pitcher, who pitched a 5-hit shutout. He got Augie Bergamo to pop up to short.

But he got wild. He threw a wild pitch. He walked Debs Garms. He gave up a single to Stan Musial, loading the bases. He walked Ray Sanders, forcing in a run. He walked Walker Cooper, Mort's brother and catcher, forcing in another run. He walked Danny Litwhiler, forcing in a 3rd run. And he allowed a single to Emil Verban, producing 2 more runs. Reds manager Bill McKechnie removed Nuxhall, replacing him with Jake Eisenhart. The Reds had batted around, and Eisenhart walked Fallon, before getting Mort Cooper to pop up to 1st.

The Reds put Nuxhall into a game with the Birmingham Barons of the Southern Association, and he pitched 1 inning, allowing 6 runs. Clearly, he wasn't ready even for that level.

In 1945, he pitched in Class D ball for the Ohio-based Lima Reds, and in Class AA ball for the Syracuse Chiefs. He left the Reds organization and finished high school. Some players might have been scarred for life by such a rough introduction to the major leagues.

But a funny thing happened on the way to obscurity: Joe Nuxhall made it to the major leagues a 2nd time. The Reds took him back, and he pitched in their system from 1947 to 1952. On May 21, 1952, now approaching his 24th birthday, he got back to the big club. Wearing Number 39, he went 1-4 that season, but matured as a pitcher. In 1955, he went 17-12, leading the National League with 5 shutouts.

He remained with the Reds, as both a starter and a reliever, until 1961, when he was traded to the Kansas City Athletics. In 1962, he pitched games for the Los Angeles Angels, and was traded back to the Reds, and switching to uniform Number 41. He went 15-8 in 1963, and retired after the 1966 season, 38 years old, with a record of 135-117, 1,372 strikeouts, and a 3.90 ERA. He was even a decent hitter for a pitcher, batting .198 with 15 home runs and 78 RBIs. Unfortunately, being in Kansas City in 1961 meant that he missed the Reds' only Pennant season between 1940 and 1970.

He became a broadcaster, calling games for the Reds from 1967 to 2004, and seeing them win Pennants in 1970 (losing the World Series to the Baltimore Orioles), 1972 (losing to the Oakland Athletics), 1975 (beating the Boston Red Sox), 1976 (beating the New York Yankees), and 1990 (beating the A's). He saw them move from Crosley Field to Riverfront Stadium in 1970, and to Great American Ball Park in 2003. He called games for players such as Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Tom Seaver, Barry Larkin and Ken Griffey Jr.

His signoff, belying his youthful distinction, was, "This is the old lefthander, rounding third and heading for home." And so, in addition to "Nuxy" and "Hamilton Joe," "the Old Lefthander" became his nickname.

On June 6, 2007, the Reds honored 3 legendary broadcasters with pictures of microphones on the wall beneath the radio booth, in place of "retired numbers": Waite Hoyt (also a Hall of Fame pitcher with the Yankees), Marty Brennaman and Joe Nuxhall.

Time was of the essence: Nuxhall was battling cancer. The following November 15, he died at his home in Fairfield, Ohio, at the age of 79. Throughout the 2008 season, the Reds wore sleeve patches with NUXY 41 on them. On Opening Day, having gotten permission from Major League Baseball, all Reds players took the field with uniforms with his name and number on them.