CINCINNATI -- If they gave a Comeback Broadcaster of the Year Award, Joe Morgan would be a lock to win it.
The Hall of Famer is back in the booth on a limited basis after a brush with death. Morgan went through quite a medical ordeal. He had complications from a knee replacement. He had a bone-marrow transplant for an illness he has not disclosed.
Morgan missed Pete Rose’s Reds Hall of Fame weekend in 2016. He made it to Rose’s statue dedication earlier this summer. He tearfully thanked his wife, Theresa, for getting him through the medical hurdles to get him there.
His old teammate, Johnny Bench, made clear how high those hurdles were.
“He was near death,” Bench said. “He was an invalid.”
But Morgan, 73, says he knew he’d get back.
“I never had any doubt that I would be OK,” he said.
Joe Morgan in his playing days with the Reds.
Again, he thanked Theresa.
“The reason I’m here is my wife,” he said. “She is Mother Teresa to me. She was the one who kept pushing me and doing the right things. No, I never had any doubt.”
Morgan’s good friend, Marty Brennaman, admits he’s surprised that Morgan is back in the booth.
“If we go back a year, I’d say absolutely I am,” Brennaman said.
It was Theresa’s idea for Joe to get back in the booth.
“To be honest with you, yes,” Morgan said. “She’s said, you’re well enough now to go back.’ I said, ‘I don’t know if I want to do that.’ But she kept talking and talking. She’s always given me good advice. So, yeah, I followed her.”
Morgan is doing Reds home games on Wednesdays. He’s scheduled to do the first three innings. He ended up doing 4 1/2 innings Wednesday.
The only lingering effect of the bout with ill health is weakness in his left knee. Morgan walks with a pair of canes and has a brace on the knee. It’s improving.
“If it wasn’t for my knee, I’d be playing golf,” he said. “My only problem is my knee. I’m getting a smaller brace. This heavy one is the reason I have two canes. I don’t need to stand or move around. But I don’t want to fall with this heavy one on, so I use these.
“It’s getting better every day. It’s a long, long way to go. People told me every day you’re off a knee it takes four days for it recuperate and get back. Hell, I was almost eight months off it. But I can feel it getting stronger. It’s just slow.”
Brennaman says it's easy for people to think Morgan is worse off than he actually is.
“I think people need to understand that when they see him, he looks like he’s on his last leg. No pun intended. All his problems now, extend from his leg,” Brennaman said. “It’s a matter of getting his legs back. Mentally, he’s as sharp as a tack.”
Morgan commutes from his home in the Bay Area in California to do the games. He’s enjoyed his return.
Former Cincinnati Reds player Pete Rose, Barry Larkin, Joe Morgan and Johnny Bench walk on the field prior to the 86th MLB All-Star Game at the Great American Ball Park on July 14, 2015 in Cincinnati. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
“I get a chance to give my opinion about the Reds, my favorite team,” he said. “Unfortunately, I live and die with them a little bit.”
Morgan’s opinions famously tick off the Sabermetrics crowd. He was a huge target of the stat-minded in his days as lead analyst for ESPN. He’s sprinkled some that logic into his broadcasts with the Reds. He questioned Joey Votto walking five times, for instance.
But he adds a different voice to the broadcast. The chemistry between him and partners Thom Brennaman and Jeff Brantley is good.
“It’s fun with these guys,” Morgan said. “I’ve worked Thom and Jeff before as a guest for one inning. But it’s fun to do the game with them.”
