God bless you Ernie! You will be missed. Truly one-of-a-kind.
At least he was able to go peacefully, spending his final months at home with his family.
I know this sounds cliche and all, but the best part about Ernie was his voice and the delivery. You could just have the game on and kind of be at peace. His flow and tone and pace were just perfect for baseball. Just relax and listen to the game. A lot of the guys out there now could learn a lesson on how to be an individual and have catch phrases, but never come off lke you're trying to steal the show.
This is one of the saddest events in a long time for me. I listened to him every night growing up. I loved his calls about "he stood there like a house on the side of the road and watched it go by" and "a lovely lady from _________ (fill in the Michigan city) is taken home that souvenir tonight.
Ernie meant more to Detroit than any athlete or mayor. He lived for that city and I hope his legacy can carry on to the next generations that never got the joy of experiencing him.
Well said. I hear his voice and I am immediately 6 years old in the attic watching TV with my brother.
RIP Ernie. Thanks for the memories.
When I was a kid, I used to fall asleep listening to Tiger games on an old AM radio during the summer, listening to Ernie. As sad day for all baseball fans.
When I think of great announcers, none top the list above the great Ernie Harwell. I spent many nights falling asleep as a kid listening to him call games. I'll speak for all Tigers and all sports fans when I say thanks for the memories. RIP, and Go Tigers!!!
The world has truely lost a great man with his passing... There are not enough human beings like him, yet how could there be anyone like him.
Was part of all of our families. Like the cool Uncle you had or always wanted. Im a grown man and I can honestly say I will miss this man.
How Denny McLain continues to walk the face of this earth while Ernie Harwell is gone is beyond me. It blows my mind.
Sometimes there is no justice in this world.
Let's not get carried away. Harwell lived 92 years. It's sad that he's gone, but he had an incredibly rich, full life. McClain is 26 years younger than Harwell, so it's kind of an odd comparison.
Ernie Harwell helped me survive the 1990s as a Tigers fan. I will forever be indebted to him for that. Hopefully up above he'll finally get to meet that guy from Saginaw, or that woman from Sterling Heights, or that kid from Ludington.
Ernie was a class act through and through. He was and always will be my favorite broadcaster.
He was that voice I always heard while spending carefree summer days at my grandma's house. I will miss him.
When I was young, I would come inside from my parents pool on gorgeous weekend summer days, even though my dad had the game on the radio outside, just to hear Ernie and Al announce.
I'll never forget that.
He was bigger than baseball. Bigger than the Tigers. Bigger than summer by the pool.
but his voice will echo throughout Michigan summers for years to come. Thanks for sharing yourself with so many of us for so many years, Ernie.
Between Ernie and Paul Carey on WJR and George Kell and Al Kaline on Channel 4, we had it pretty damned good for long time.
The Kell/Kaline team was fantastic. I can respect Mario and Rod, but they can't even hold a candle to those guys.
I agree Kell/Kaline were also great. In fact, I'm not sure if I've ever managed to watch more than an inning or two of baseball on the television since those guys left just because I find most of today's announcers so annoying in comparison. And even in those days, I had a hard time watching games of other teams, on different channels, etc. The Tigers team at PASS sports was okay (it was still the Tigers, of course) but I could never much stand the Cubs or Braves games that were always on cable, or whatever Espn was using etc..
It's difficult to explain but it just seems like the old guys felt so much more comfortable with the game than the newer generations of announcers who seem so excitable. I often think that sports game on TV would be better if there were no announcers and they simply aired the games sounds (crowd, players, etc) but Kell/Kaline are perhaps the only TV team that I actually wanted to listen to.
We were truly fortunate to have Harwell/Carey and Kell/Kaline to get us through the summer and Bruce Martyn and Sid Abel to get us through the winter.
I'll always remember Ernie through my dad, who taught me in Pee Wee league to swing the bat and not, as Ernie would say, stand there like a house by the side of the road. Every time I see a player watch strike three, I'm still repeating that.
Rod and Mario will never be as entertaining again, simply because I will think of Ernie every time I watch the Tigers.
I have his autograph somewhere. He was just... standing there in the aisle way at a game, well after he'd retired. I didn't even know who he was, but dad told me, and he was so gracious to sign my poster.
but there is nothing OT about Ernie Harwell.
All of us who listened to him were privileged.
Waaaay back in the day, my dad took my sister and I to the last game Ernie did before he was prematurely let go in '91. Still remember that day like it was yesterday.
Isn't it amazing that it seems like everybody's favorite memories of childhood in metro Detroit involve spending time somewhere in Tiger Stadium? And they all involve Ernie in one way or another.
A truly incredible human being.
God bless Ernie Harwell. You will forever be the voice of summer.
"For, lo, the winter is past, The rain is over and gone; The flowers appear on the earth; The time of the singing of birds is come, And the voice of the turtle is heard in our land."
Adelson nailed it on Yahoo:
"We eventually grew up and learned fancy stats like WHIP and OBP. We learned about steroids and labor deals. We learned that players have complicated lives off the field. They don’t just wait at the ballpark until Ernie gets there to turn Tiger Stadium on. We learned that the sports world isn’t as pure or polite as Ernie made it seem.
But we learned Ernie was pure and polite."
The theme he plays on is that we still hear Ernie. He's this voice that you know as well as anybody's, and you associate it with Alan Trammell coming to bat.
He loved the game, and we loved the game, because the way Ernie described it, it was impossible not to love it.
i only now appreciate how ernie would be silent sometimes for the five or six or ten seconds between pitches, and you could hear the sounds of the ballpark come clamoring in and then a simple "ball two" and then silence again for a bit. this is invariably the lullaby of my youth.
That minimalism was perfect...so relaxed, so natural, so Ernie.
When I was a boy and couldn't sleep or was scared by a storm, my dad would bring in the radio, and Ernie Harwell and the Tigers would keep me company until I would finally drift off. More than just a broadcaster.
Ernie Harwell made the call on countless tape measure blasts I hit off Nolan Ryan. Looong gone over the hedge and into the Shaws' backyard. Thanks, Ernie.
Here's the inevitable (and very worthy) Facebook cause...
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Ernie-Harwell-Field-at-Comeri…
A huge part of living baseball history has passed. When you consider that Ernie was broadcasting for the Dodgers when Jackie Robinson was breaking the color barrier. That Ernie was present making his call when Bobby Thomson hit the "Shot Heard Round the World". Ernie saw so many great players in his career; DiMaggio, Mantle, Robinson, Bob Gibson, Kaline. It's just amazing to me that one guy had so much first-hand experience with baseball history. A life well-spent.
You will be dearly missed.