Reds Memory: Jay Bruce’s Reds debut | Nick Kirby

My most important Reds memory came on May 27, 2008. Before we dive into that, I must give the backstory.

I grew up a die-hard Reds fan. Shocker, right? I was passed down the love of baseball and especially the Cincinnati Reds from my late grandfather, Charlie. My first big Reds memory was in 1995 when the Reds swept the Dodgers in the NLDS. I was only 8 years old at the time, but I can vividly remember Game 3 when the Reds destroyed the Dodgers 10-1 to secure the sweep. I also can then remember the painful sweep to the Braves, most vividly the final game of the series when the Reds got beat 6-0.

I lived and breathed Cincinnati Reds baseball for the remainder of my childhood. My grandmother got me a subscription to baseball weekly, and I would study the Reds statistics. I could tell you every player’s batting average. I had a baseball encyclopedia and would look through old Reds players statistics. I remember begging my parents to let me stay up late to watch west coast games, because while only select Reds games were available on network television, nearly every west coast game was televised because it was outside of primetime (at least that is how ten-year old me remembers it).

The Reds unfortunately like many teams moved their entire television broadcast to cable in 1999. My family didn’t have cable, so I was out of luck. I tried my best through my early teenage years to follow the Reds on the radio, but my attention span couldn’t handle it. The combination of that, and the Reds being terrible in the 2000’s made me end up losing track of my beloved Redlegs.

I kept a casual eye on the Reds, but in my teenage years I found other passions to keep me occupied. I went to college in Virginia starting in 2006. A couple of my closest friends in college, Will and Steve were huge baseball fans. They were also big Atlanta Braves fans, but my heart chose to forgive them for 1995. Will got me hooked on fantasy baseball, and Steve and I would go see the Lynchburg Hillcats, a minor league baseball team in the area. The two of them helped me start building a passion again for baseball over my first two years of college.

Enter 2008. Everything was building up for me to become fully invested again in baseball. I remember talking to my older sister about the first thing that I wanted to do when I came back from college from the summer was to catch a baseball game. She got me all-you-can eat seats for one of the first days I was back in town, and we went down to the Great American Ball Park on dreary, rainy night to catch a game.

I wore my Ryan Freel shirtsey, mainly because I believe it was the only Reds apparel that I owned at the time. The parking attendant said something along the lines of “oh you guys are here to see that Bruce kid make his debut.” Bruce? Who is this Bruce guy they are talking about? I was still a long way from memorizing the Reds top 30 prospects list and had no clue who the parking attendant was talking about. However, he was excited, so I was excited. There was a small crowd at the ballpark that night, but there was a special buzz.

The rest was history. Jay Bruce batted leadoff in his debut, and he quickly made a huge impression on not only me, but everyone in attendance. Bruce reached base in all five of his plate appearances, stealing a base as well, and firing up the small crowd.

That game and that night was what launched me back into Reds fandom, and I have never looked back. I was in attendance for both 2010 and 2012 when the Reds clinched, and I’ve been to some big comeback and walk-off wins. Those were certainly incredible experiences also, but there will never be anything like that night in May 2008.

[Featured image: Jay Bruce’s first plate appearance (Photo: Steve Mancuso)]