As a kid growing up near Cincinnati in the 70s, the "Big Red Machine" team really captured me and made me a baseball fan for life. I spent many nights after bedtime with a little transistor radio (google it kids) under my pillow listening to the Reds radio broadcasts...such great memories they provided. So this one hits me especially hard. Perhaps no cohesive starting lineup unit has ever defined the sports identity of a city quite like "The Great 8" and Cincinnati. Hard to accept the news that the first member of that legendary unit has passed. What a legacy and giant footprint they left on a city, the history of baseball, and on many childhood's like mine.
RIP "Little Joe!"
