“It probably should have been done a long time ago,” said Mayor Pat Moeller. “So every youngster or adult who goes to that park and plays baseball or softball will remember Joe Nuxhall.”
The city’s Park and Recreation Commission entertained the request last month and unanimously supported a motion to honor the man affectionately known as The Ol’ Lefthander at the park that is on one of the several streets in the region that bears his name.
“It’s just another small way to say thank you to him and his family who have done so much for the Hamilton, Fairfield, Butler County area,” Moeller said.
Kim Nuxhall, who runs the Joe Nuxhall Character Education Fund, said the action taken by the city for his father is “very touching.”
“I remember when the street was named,” said Nuxhall about the street being named Joe Nuxhall Boulevard. “It was a special moment in his life. He would be extremely touched with (this honoring), as would his brothers. They all played ball there. That’s where he was discovered (by the Reds) at age 14.”
Nuxhall was signed by the Reds when he turned 15. On June 10, 1944, he became the youngest person ever to play in a Major League Baseball game.
Moeller said there are “a couple more special things” planned to honor Nuxhall, but said he can’t share what those are yet.
“We need to keep recognizing him because he’s so much Hamilton,” he said.
Nuxhall said it’s “humbling” for him and his family to have his father honored again. The cities of Hamilton and Fairfield have honored Joe Nuxhall with streets and parts of parks named for him. The Cincinnati Reds stadium, Great American Ball Park, address was changed to 100 Joe Nuxhall Way.
“It’s an ongoing feeling of gratitude from our family,” Nuxhall said. “I’ve always said it’s such a good feeling to know that the people felt the same way about Dad as Dad felt about them.”
The legacy of Joe Nuxhall is “a life of how you treat people,” his son said. “For him personally, it was that innate part of him that wanted to continually give back to a community that gave so much to him. It wasn’t because he was a broadcaster or played baseball (that people loved him), but it was what he did with it. He used that platform for good, to make an impact for good.”
The Ol’ Lefthander was beloved in the two communities he called home, his native Hamilton and Fairfield where he lived from the mid-1950s until his death. He was not just a local sports hero, but was a champion for the mentally and physically disabled in Butler County and the abused and abandoned kids at One Way Farm in Fairfield.
Renditions of signs that will honor Nuxhall at L.J. Smith Park will be unveiled in early January, and Moeller said the city is seeking permission from the Cincinnati Reds to use the team’s logo. The signs will be made in-house at the city’s sign shop so the costs would be minimal, the mayor said.
The Reds Hall of Fame pitcher and broadcaster had battled a number of illnesses in the later years of his life, including heart disease and multiple bouts with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
The last honoring bestowed upon Nuxhall when he was alive was a month before his death. In October 2007, the city councils of Hamilton and Fairfield met to rename Forest Lake Lane to Joe Nuxhall Way. The street, which runs through Joyce Park, is shared by both cities and required joint legislation.
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