Ernie Harwell Dies at 92

[maddogesq]

Source: Detroit Free Press.

Ernie Harwell, the acclaimed Tigers broadcaster whose eloquence and kindness made him a beloved Michigan institution, died Tuesday night after a nearly year-long bout with cancer. He was 92.

Read more: http://freep.com/article/20100504/SPORTS02/100504087/1321/Voice-of-Detroit-Ernie-Harwell-dies-at-92

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http://freep.com/article/20100504/SPORTS02/100504087/1321/Voice-of-Detroit-Ernie-Harwell-dies-at-92

[drdtroit]

1. "He stood there like the house by the side of the road ...

... and watched it go by" Ernie Harwell

[muntrv]

2. You mean he's loooonnnng gone? How sad! Last year we lost George Kell.

[Captain Hilts]

3. Great broadcaster. Sorry Marmar and LisaM. nt

[madinmaryland]

4. One of the great announcers. RIP.

[TripleKatPad]

5. The Family Look

Listening to Ernie (and Paul) on a hot summer night is indelibly etched into my memory.

To this day, I find myself using the "family look" to describe someone's reaction. Ernie often used that phrase to portray a player giving the stink-eye to an umpire after a strike call.

[dmr]

10. I can hear him say it!

Hang on to your Strohs, we'll be right back.

[amandabeech]

6. A big loss.

Maybe he can call games up there with Harry Carey.

The two of them were my all time favorites. I'm glad that I'm old enough to have grown up with both of them. It's hard to imagine Detroit or Chicago baseball without them.

[Faygo Kid]

7. Lifelong Tigers fan here. Started listening to Ernie in 1961.

None better. The voice of my summers throughout my life, and as beloved a figure as anyone in Michigan. RIP, old friend. I can you hear you now broadcasting a doubleheader at Tiger Stadium . . .

[Blue_Tires]

8. r.i.p.

[classysassy]

9. The baseball voices of the past

the likes of Jack Brickhouse,Harry Carey,Bob Elson, Curt Gowdy,Jack Buck,Vin Skully,Harry Kalis,Red Barber and Mel Allan they knew the game and were respected by the fans I grew up listening to Brickhouse"Hey,Hey,Hey".A bygone era when tdhe game was fun.

[1gobluedem]

11. The voice of summer is silent

RIP, dear Ernie. All of Michigan mourns your death. :cry:

[Kingofalldems]

12. Used to pick up the Tiges on the radio back in the 80's

with Harwell doing the play-by-play. RIP.

[LisaM]

13. Goodbye Ernie.

I remember going jogging in the evenings sometimes, and being able to listen to the game, on peoples' radios, going through the neighborhoods.

And, when I was in college, I'd take my radio down to the dorm basement and listen to the West Coast games late at night.


He used to always claim that someone from a certain town had caught a fly ball. I heard him explain this once. Before ticket sales were computerized, you'd go buy them at authorized vendors, and a block of tickets would go to a certain store, so he'd know where they'd been sold. He also checked on where groups were sitting. I loved that! "And it's caught by a young man from Petoskey, Michigan!"


:cry: indeed.

[caraher]

16. Really?

I always assumed he just picked a random town. When did he say that? He tells a different story here:

Foul balls into the stands were “Caught by a man from (whatever town in the area that came to his mind).”

“I started that after I got to Detroit in 1961 or ’62, and it just happened by accident,” Harwell explained. “I said, ‘A guy from Grosse Pointe caught that foul ball,’ then the next ones were caught by a guy from Saginaw or a lady from Lansing.”

Regardless... great broadcaster, great man. The true voice of summer in Michigan. We'll not see another quite like him...

[joeybee12]

14. ESPN spent a lot of time on this today...sounds like a real character...

RIP.

[cherokeeprogressive]

15. RIP Ernie...

Your pal Vinnie had some wonderful things to say about you during Tuesday nights Dodger Debacle.

You will be missed... Congratulations on a life well lived.

What a bitch though to live into your nineties and be taken by cancer.