Talking about Nuxie

Dave "Yid" Armbruster, his long-time engineer, summed up perfectly how Joe Nuxhall made guys our age feel:

"He's like the best uncle you ever had. I thought of him like that. I thought of him as almost a father figure later. He was the cool uncle, who would talk to you the way most grownups wouldn't talk to you. That was my impression."

Bob Castellini, John Allen, Tom and Dick Williams, Tom Browning and Chuck Harmon were at the press gathering the Reds held to talk about Nuxie. So was the guy probably as close to Nuxie as anyone in the organization, clubhouse man Bernie Stowe.

"He grew on me like my big brother," Stowe said. "The game would be over. We'd be on the road and he'd say, 'let's go get a beer and a sandwich.' Everybody said how cheap he was. I guess he liked the little guy because he took care of me.

Stowe said through all his recent tough times Nuxie remained upbeat and was at peace.

"He'd say, 'We all got to die. They can't save me forever,'" Stowe said. "What a man."