Danielle Solzman
How We Lookin’?: The Immortal Words of Marty Brennaman takes a look back at Marty Brennaman’s 46 years in the Cincinnati Reds booth and then some. Brennaman tells his story alongside fans, colleagues, Reds players, and family members. His work in broadcasting led to the Ford C. Frick Award for “major contributions to baseball” in 2000.
When Marty arrived in Cincinnati for the 1974 season, the Reds booth would never again be the same. He had the challenging task of having to replace Al Michaels, who had just departed for the San Franciso Giants. By the time that he retired at the end of the 2019 season, he was one of several broadcasters to have spent at least 40 years broadcasting games for a single team. Red Sox broadcaster Joe Castiglione joined the 40-seasons-with-one-team club a few years ago but had two seasons with other teams.
- Jaime Jarrin (64 seasons/Los Angeles Dodgers)
- Vin Scully (67 seasons/Los Angeles Dodgers)
- Denny Matthews (56 seasons/Kansas City Royals)
- Bob Uecker (54 seasons/Milwaukee Brewers)
- Mike Shannon (50 seasons/St. Louis Cardinals)
- Jack Buck (46 seasons/St. Louis Cardinals)
- Eric Nadel (46 seasons/Texas Rangers)
- Ernie Harwell (42 seasons/Detroit Tigers—55 seasons overall)
- Jerry Coleman (42 seasons/San Diego Padres—51 seasons overall)
In addition to the three World Series championships (1975, 1976, 1990), Brennaman was behind the mic for a few milestone home runs (Hank Aaron’s 714th career home run and both Ken Griffey Jr.’s 500th and 600th home runs), Pete Rose’s record-breaking hit, one perfect game, and six no-hitters. He did some basketball, too, as he was on the sidelines the Kentucky-Duke game that ended in heartbreak back in 1992. It was one of the 15 NCAA Regionals that he called along with 11 Final Fours. But before that, Brennaman’s earlier work with the Virginia Squires opened the door to calling AAA baseball, which later led to the Reds opportunity.
How We Lookin’? is a film that Cincinnati Reds fans will appreciate the most but it’s worth recommending for the average baseball fan, too. That being said, Kentucky fans will probably want to fast-forward through THE SHOT.
Please head to Dugout Dirt for my full review.
DIRECTOR: Terry Lukemire
FEATURING: Marty Brennaman, Pete Rose, Tom Browning, Bronson Arroyo, Thom Brennaman, Jeff “Cowboy” Brantley, Jim Day, Chris Welsh, Dave “Yid” Armbruster, Rick Walls, Charley Frank, Amanda Brennaman, with Urban Meyer, Kirk Herbstreit, and Nick Lachey
