I want your Ernie Harwell story!

I was going to school up in the UP when my parents ran in to some financial trouble. I had been paying for school myself, with some help from the government, but the trouble my parents were in no longer left me qualified for financial aid. I had to leave school and find some work for a while. I had spent a little over a year in various parts of Wisconsin, Illinois and Minnesota and I thought I was about to head to North Dakota for more lucrative opportunities. I had been making enough money that I was very seriously considering not going back to school, but I hadn’t been home in over a year and figured I needed to visit friends and family before I headed out to the middle of nowhere.
About ten hours into my drive home I finally rounded Lake Michigan with the radio on scan trying to find something that would capture my attention enough to keep me awake. Ernie’s voice jumped out at me like the song the Ice Cream truck used to when I was a kid. I immediately flashed back to simpler times when collecting a complete set of baseball cards was about the most important thing I could ever imagine doing with my life. For the next three hours Ernie’s call of a Tigers vs. Indians game escorted me home (Tigers won 4-3).
The next day I checked out Comerica Park for the first time with my family and one of my best friends from highschool. The day after that I called my boss to let him know I would not be taking the job in North Dakota, I called up to Michigan Tech and re-enrolled in school. I’ve been in Michigan ever since, and even though I hate the weather at times, I still want to be here and be a part of rebuilding this great State.
I can’t say it was Ernie that personally convinced me to go back to school, or to stay in Michigan, but there was something magical about the way he called that game. He is a class act, a legend of the game, and truly one of Michigan’s great treasures.