Ernie Harwell Diagnosed with Cancer

There’s no words to describe the level of admiration that we should all have for him. He’s staring death in the face and doing so with a smile. There might not be a stronger person on Earth than Ernie right now.

One thing that I hope the team can take from this is to be as strong as he is, especially as we head into the most frustrating and difficult months of the season.

Win it for Ernie! Go Tigers!

I’m somewhat ashamed of it, but I really don’t have any memories of Ernie Harwell from his days as a regular broadcaster (I did not watch as much baseball as a kid, and when I did, I always watched it on TV. I never listened to the radio). But I’ve enjoyed listening to old snippets of his broadcasts as well as the times he’s visited the booth during games. This has been a sad year for Tiger fans in regard to old favorites (George Kell, The Bird, and now this).

Hopefully the Tigers hang on, win the division, and play deep into October, and that somehow Ernie can make it back up to Detroit to see his beloved Tigers in the postseason one more time.

I echo the sentiment of actioncuse: Win it for Ernie!

The tigers organization has been fortunate to have many, many outstanding people represent it over the decades. Ernie is the best of them all. All our thoughts, prayers, gratitude, and admiration to both ernie and lulu.

this was the first thing I read when I woke up this morning. since I spent much of my life growing up in southern California, my dad introduced me to him when he briefly called for the Angels. I still remember him explaining to me how important this man was to the Tigers.

I agree: let’s win it for Ernie.

Ernie will live the last chapter of his life the same way he’s lived all the others. This is such sad news for all of us, especially folks like me who did grow up listening to Ernie on WJR, the Great Voice of the Great Lakes.

This is the first place I check every morning, so this is where I first heard the news. I guess that’s fitting. Ian, this is beautifully written. It helps to hear bad news from a friend, which is what I consider you and all the folks who post here.

grandy commented about it on BLS.

In a world lacking of class, Ernie was a brightspot. Enjoy your time Ernie, like we know you will.

Ernie is awesome. Drew and Mike had an interview with him this morning, and he is such a nice guy, and so humble. I don’t understand how in the world how he ever got fired.

Listen to the interview on this page, it’s right below the third Ernie picture. There’s also a lot of cool old Ernie photos on the page.

http://my.wrif.com/drewmike/?p=2751

first being stuck in a traffic jam in Ohio for two hours, now this? Not a good start to the vacation

I have been a lifetime Tigers fan since 1954 when I went to old Briggs Stadium with my dad and saw the one player who has been my idol and favorite player to this day Al Kaline. We moved back to metro boston in 1957 so I was unable to listen to Ernie regulary except those few instances with clear air waves I was somehow able to get the Tigers on my radio some 750 miles from Detroit. I would go to see my Tigers every year when they played the sox at fenway. But some years later I was finally able to see Ernie. I was at a game to see our Tigers play boston at fenway, and was at the area where the Tigers buses brought them from the hotel. The bus pulled up almost perfectly in front of me wearing my Tigers away cap. Players got off the bus, Tram, Lou who nodded and smiled, Jim Northrup was with the team as a coach or announcer in a suit, and then this smiling little man stepped down the bus steps.
I said “Hi Ernie, so nice to see you, Hope our Tigers win tonight.” Ernie smiled and extended his hand to shake mine, and said he was glad I came out to see the Tigers. Seeing and talking to Ernie for that minute and a half was better than anything else that night. Ernie talked to me like he had known me for years.

We can only hope that the Tigers can overcome the odds and win this year not only for our own patience since 1984, but as a tribute and thankyou to the 2 great announcers, Ernie and George Kell, and for Mark Fidrych the charismatic young player who was like a meteor star for that magic season he pitched in 1976, and for the old classic ball park Tiger Stadium that holds so many memories for us.

I will miss Ernie so much. He was the soundtrack of summer evenings when I was a kid when it was way too nice to be inside watching television, so my family would take a radio out in the backyard and set it on the picnic table, or the porch, or just leave it in the kitchen but turn it up and face it toward the window so we could hear the Tigers playing.

Even when they started appearing on cable more, well, if you didn’t have cable, it didn’t matter. To me, Ernie Harwell was Tigers baseball, and he was THE voice of my childhood. Years later, after he was fired (a move that still stains my memory of Bo Schembechler), and came back to the Tigers, I lived in Detroit for a while, up on the 11th floor of a building on Cass Avenue, from which I could see Tiger Stadium. A cherished memory from that time period involves something I did quite often, turning up the radio, turning down the lights as night drew over the city, and allowing Ernie’s voice transport me over the trees and neighborhood to the old ball park.

A couple of years ago, I bought his “Audio Scrapbook” — four CDs of Ernie just telling baseball stories. The man’s knowledge is absolutely astounding… he gives some incredible insight as to just how personal a game baseball can be, and how personally involved he was with so many people in the game. (I think it even came free with a couple of collections of his Freep columns.) Get this if you can, and thank your lucky stars we’ve been fortunate to have Ernie Harwell — “just a tongue-tied kid from Georgia,” as he describes himself — with us as long as we have. Trust me, living in Blue Jays-land most of my life, we’ve been spoiled more than you can ever imagine.

We all know that death is a fact of life, yet it does not make it any easier when someone special to us is near the end. Ernie Harwell has indeed been a very special person to Detroit baseball fans, and his kindness and generosity makes him the kind of person who transcends team loyalties. I doubt there were too many people in the game of baseball who knew Ernie who did not like him, and i have never heard a bad word said about him.

Like so many, i grew up listening to Ernie Harwell call the Tigers games, and even now when i am watching a Tigers game, i can’t help but end up hearing his voice in my head, doing the commentary with all of his familiar “Ernie-isms” like “he stood there like a house by the side of the road!” and “a fan from (random city) caught that foul ball!” Like Bob Ufer with Michigan Wolverine football, Ernie Harwell goes with Tiger baseball like peanut butter goes with jelly.

Yes, may the Tigers win a World Series for Ernie this year! And also for George Kell and Mark “The Bird” Fidrych.

God/dess bless Ernie Harwell, and many thanks to him for being such a great person and ambassador for baseball for all these years. His spirit will live forever in the hearts of the Detroit Tigers faithful, and indeed in the hearts of all who love baseball.