RIP Ernie Harwell

We used to go back to Michigan during the summer to visit relatives, and listening to Ernie while out on the lake was a ritual.

I understand that times change, and as much as some here would have you believe, I don’t spend all my time lamenting the passing of the “Good Old Days.” And baseball has never been high on my list of favorite sports.

Still there was something about listening to a game being broadcast by a great conversationalist. It’s a slow game that lends itself to storytelling, and on a summer night, that was a pretty good way to pass the time growing up.

Ernie, Gene Elston, Harry Kalas, Vin Scully, are all part of my memory bank, and I am grateful for it.

Still there was something about listening to a game being broadcast by a great conversationalist. It’s a slow game that lends itself to storytelling, and on a summer night, that was a pretty good way to pass the time growing up.

Yep. That clip of Vin Scully talking about Ernie is a great example.

I typically don’t tune into baseball until the playoffs get rolling in October (and only to see what the Phillies are doing — f Matsui and HenryJames), but there just aren’t many of these guys left.

I too, grew up in Detroit, listening to Ernie… he was one of a kind.

He had a southern drawl, and it never really left him, but the people of Michigan made him one of their own, and he had the same sort of bond with them.

You will be hard pressed to find anyone with anything bad to say about Ernie, with the possible exception of the guys unlucky enough to try to replace him when the fans were not ready for him to go. Bo Schembechler was responsible for firing Ernie in 1991, and he had no understandable reason for doing it. It was a good thing for the rest of the country, who got to hear him on the Saturday night games that CBS broadcast in those days, but he still was treasured in Detroit, as shown by how he was welcomed back when the Tigers made the easy call to bring him back on TV in 1993. Bo, ultimately, was sent packing, which tells you a lot as well.

I was fortunate enough to meet Ernie. I was on a vacation trip to spring training, staying in the company condo and ostensibly situated to watch the Astros, but I ended up making two or three drives to Lakeland to see the Tigers because they were home and the Astros were not. (I do have a funny spring training story from that trip involving Al Rosen and Willie McGee, but that’s for another day.)

After one of the games, I managed to put myself into position to meet the broadcast team. I was headed toward 30 years old and trying to act like a professional, but I was feeling like I was 10 again. I got to meet Al Kaline, my favorite Tiger; Paul Carey, the color guy and a long-time sports voice on the flagship WJR, and Ernie. Kaline was polite, but seemed like he’d met enough boyhood fans. Carey was very nice – he had one of the deepest voices I’ve ever heard. Ernie, though, treated me like a long-lost relative. I didn’t expect it and never forgot it. I wish I had been special, but I wasn’t. That was one of the best things about Ernie.

Vasherized mentioned some of his catch phrases… I can add, "The Tigers are kicking up their heels" when they put a couple of runners on, and my all-time favorite on called strikeouts: "He stood there like the house by the side of the road and watched that one go by."

But Ernie’s most memorable schtick began a few years after he got to Detroit. He would follow a foul ball into the stands, and say where the person who caught it was from…. "A man from Allen Park grabbed that one… Caught by a fella from Wyandotte." On weekends, he’d throw in some out-state locations because he knew people would travel in. Between those who thought he really knew where those people were from, to those who wrote him begging him to mention their town, he had fans for life.

He still does.

Cool site, nice tribute. I like it all.

Cool story, Bob.

I guess this is as good a thread as any to admit I was born in Detroit, in a blizzard with no power at the hospital and thus have the lifelong excuse of oxygen deprivation during birth to explain any misdeeds/shortcomings.

I tried it on a cop once and it was just as successful as Trips Right’s posing as a cop to pick up chicks on 6th St routine.

Ernie lived in much classier times.

You should see how ticked Vasherized gets when he ruins his $125 suit chasing foul balls.

$125?

Add a few zeroes Costcoboy. The Threads define The Man.

I told you not to bring up Costco on here. But since you did, now this is happening. Let’s all think about how stupid Vasherized is for driving all over town when all he needed was a suit, tires, and industrial sized mayo. Practicality defines the man. Ha ha ha ha!

Facepalm.

You once told me that you wanted to be like Skip Bayless one day and now here you are.

You two dumbshits are totally wrecking this moving tribute.

Cuss words:

Sailor 1
Magnus 0

I’m going to be in the minority here, but these announcers need to have an age limit. I get tired of longevity giving you automatic passage into HOF status. I’m not saying that’s the case here at all, but shucks, I get so tired of Doyer fan waxing poetic about Vin Scully. And, Milo Hamilton makes my ears bleed.

How’s that for moving?

But Vin probably is the greatest that ever was, and Milo isn’t. But Milo still has the pipes, I’ll give him that.

Judicious use of cuss words is invaluable. Jim Lampley told me this.

http://www.mlive.com/tigers/index.ssf/2010/05/paul_carey_on_wdfn_ernie_harwe.html

For anyone who would like to judge my evaluation of Paul Carey’s voice…

I never heard Ernie call a full game, I;m a Cardinals fan. I know we get ridiculed because some idiot labeled us the best fans in baseball and we ran with it but I’m sad to see him go. Baseball fans are taught to understand history. Before steroids it was the easiest to compare between generations. Anyways sucks hes gone.

I can’t say I agree with an age limit for broadcasters. Jack Buck was terrible at the end. He had Ali disease and couldn’t tell a fly to left from a homerun but I don’t think the long time cardinals fans cared. They heard him as he was. Much like Jo Pa.