I still remember laying in bed listening to the west coast games….“the boys of summer on W———-J—————-R” Then Ernie would come on and say “a pleasant good evening to you from the Oakland Caildornia, or Seattle, Washington…or Saturday night games at home…”A pleasant good evening to you from the corner of Michigan and Trumball" His voice is one I can still hear as clear as someone I am talking to today..

I hope he will show up at the 84 reunion – quote in detroit news was that he didn’t want to take away from that team so he may skip it.

I got to meet Ernie 4 times over 25 years and each time he was everything everyone says. Kind, polite, gentle etc etc.

My brother and our wives took a group by train to Toronto in Sept of 84. There were 10,000 Tiger fans up there and it had to be a real pain in the ass for the players and broadcasters. I’ll never forget Ernie and Paul patiently signing hundreds of autographs and posing for pictures. They really didn’t have to do that but they made each person that stopped them feel like the only Tiger fan they had ever spoken with.

My Ernie on the radio moment was 67 – My Dad and brothers were at a game near the end of the season and I was forced to stay home with chicken pox and listen on the radio. I was absolutely convonced that my brother had caught a foul ball when Ernie said “A young man from Lansing grabbed that one”

And it was even better when my big brother Mike handed me a baseball when he got home that night. I’d love to say that he HAD caught a foul ball and that Ernie was prophetic. But he admitted to me he purchased the sovenir for me because I couldn’t go.

17 years later, in a Toronto hotel lobby, Ernie listened to my story and signed that baseball that my brother brought home when I was an 11 year old, crushed that I couldn’t go to a game.

I have many pieces of baseball memoribilia. but that baseball from my brother bought in 1967 signed by Ernie Harwell in 1984 might be my favorite!

God Bless You Ernie