I'm A Jerk [Again]

Continuing to offer opinions to which some will object . . . Let's wrap up celebrating Joe Nuxhall.

Look, he was a great guy who was loved by the masses. He meant a lot to many Reds fans. And, as a result of his wonderful life, he has been thoroughly honored: he has a quote permanently affixed to the facade of Great American Ballpark [while Marty, because the county commissioners were ridiculous, has nothing], he has a statue in front of the stadium, the team wore his jersey number on Opening Day and is still wearing a "Nuxy" patch on their sleeves.

So did we really have to rename a street to make sure he was even more honored?

Personally, I liked Joe. But as much as I wanted him to get the Frick award and make it into the Hall of Fame [which I imagine he someday will] we all have to admit that he really wasn't a great broadcaster; I tended to avoid innings when he did the play-by-play. He was more of a personality than a professional, very similar to Harry Caray. Joe was a good man, without a doubt. But were his contributions to our community so important that we need to continue to come up with ideas by which to remember him ?

Perhaps my dismay is fueled by the idea that our city has produced many influential people who have helped change the world who never received this kind of honor. For example, Albert Sabin developed the oral polio vaccine, something that we who never lived during the height of the polio scare, will never fully appreciate. The city showed their appreciation of Sabin by naming the convention center after him, the selling out the name to a power company [in a related note, just last week I encountered someone at the convention center who went there to pay their energy bill]. Further more, we have one of our native sons who served as President of the United States yet still doesn't even a statue of his own in the city!

Again, this obviously isn't an attempt to put down Joe. He will be remembered by many for years to come. But 100 years from now, I imagine it will be difficult for someone to explain how his contributions were more significant than many other sons and daughters from our city who had been long forgotten.