We all knew it was coming. Every Tiger fan in Michigan and beyond knew that the day would inevitably arrive. Yet somehow, it seemed that as long as the sun was in the sky, the grass was green and the boys were on the field...somehow it seemed that we'd always have Ernie Harwell.
Even though he called his last game nearly eight years ago, to Tiger fans of a certain age Ernie will always be "the voice" of the Detroit Tigers. We all grew up knowing that a home run was "long gone!" and a double play was "two for the price of one". We loved it when an opposing player got caught looking at strike three because it meant that Ernie would kindly explain to us that "he stood there like the house by the side of the road". And most of all we'd marvel at how he knew the hometown of every fan who ever caught a foul ball.
For me it was Ernie, along with Paul Carey, bringing late night West Coast road trips right into my top bunk...and my dad conveniently "not noticing" that the radio was on even after bed time was "looong gone."
Many years later, Ernie's dulcet tones again provided a little late night company. My friend Jim and I were on the way to Baltimore for one of our baseball road trips. I'd been driving all day and we were somewhere outside of the city, but in a time before GPS we found ourselves unsure of the exact location of the hotel. Between fumbling with maps and searching for road signs I scanned the radio looking for that night's game. I was shocked when I heard a familiar voice...it was Ernie! He had retired the previous year, but there he was, doing play by play on a Baltimore radio station. It turns out he was in town for an event and had stopped by the Oriole's broadcast booth. While he was there the Baltimore announcers asked if he would do them the honor of calling an inning. I'll let John Nash figure out the odds of my tuning in at just that moment. All I know is that it was a welcome bit of summer serendipity for a weary traveler far from home.
At the conclusion of his final broadcast Ernie told us that instead of "goodbye" he wanted to say "thank you". Well Ernie, for those memories and for providing the soundtrack to countless other summer nights, Thank You.
Ernie Harwell reciting his Hall of Fame essay "Baseball, A Game for All America"
