Tigers icon Ernie Harwell passes away

Thank you.

He will be missed.

Ernie will be sorely missed

Ernie will never be far off, because his voice is the treasure we can share for our entire lives. Every soundbyte, each screening of an old Tigers video yearbook, he’ll be there reminding you that he is still special, and will always be in our memories. What I will miss most about Ernie is that feeling I got whenever he would join a broadcast, even at 90 years old, to say a few words that would give me a chill one more time.

For the non-BYB’ers who are coming to the site tonight to see how we are reacting, I am urging you all to enjoy the greats while they’re still around. Listen to a Dodger game while you can. You will never be sorry. Ernie would probably want you to do that. He’d probably call Vin Scully the best of all time. I personally beg to differ, because that’s precisely what made Ernie the greatest ever.

Ernie’s death reminds us all of what a big family we really all are. All of us will miss him terribly. What a fine gentleman and wonderful announcer he was. I’m going to miss the voice of my childhood. :-( . Now go out and beat those twins tonight~

for u loss

He will be missed. Extremely sad that he’s gone, but glad that he provided us with so much joy and so many memories over the years.

Thanks for just being you.

Kurt – nice job in explaining what Ernie meant to many of us. I feel like a big part of my childhood died with Ernie’s passing. He was on WJR which in the 70’s and 80’s had one of the strongest signals in the mid-west. You could drive down south as far as Atlanta and still here Ernie’s call of the game. My friends and I and assorted parents would take a radio with us out to the lakes in northern Michigan and listed to Ernie as a way to stay connected to home. The intimacy and constancy he brought to the game no longer exists.

I had been dreading this day, like the loss of a loved one you, you try and prepare yourself as best as possible, yet when the news arrives it hits like a dagger to the heart.

I remember listening to Ernie with my father, back on 760 WJR. That smooth southern drawl painting a picture on my fathers radio dial. I remember the hot nights in the summer with the windows open, listening to him call the double plays turned by Trammel and Lou, and I certainly remember my father telling me to enjoy it, because a man as great as Ernie wouldn’t be around forever.

My dad was the first person to tell me of Ernie’s passing, and the tone of his voice was reminiscent of the call I recieved when my own grandmother lost her battle with cancer. Ernie transcended baseball, and will certainly never be forgotten.

Rest in Peace Mr. Harwell, you will never know the joys you brought to the millions of Tigers fans who grew up with your voice getting us through those long summers. You will be missed.

Kinda sad that he passed on my birthday.

I had the good fortune of meeting Ernie about five years ago. He gave a speech at my local high school and then had a meet-and-greet session at the library. I went with my dad and went to both. Ernie talked for a while about everything; baseball, broadcasting, marriage, life. It was wonderful to hear his voice again. Some of my earliest memories are of watching the Tigers’ game with my grandfather. The TV was always on mute with Ernie calling the action on the radio.

But the real thrill was meeting Ernie afterwards. My dad and I talked to him for about ten minutes. He couldn’t have been nicer. It’s not possible. He was such a wonderful, well-rounded person. We shared some personal stories and it’s a night that I’ll always remember.

I went out with some friends tonight. When we saw that Ernie had passed, somebody asked who he was (she doesn’t follow sports at all). The only response I could think of was, “He was the voice of the Tigers forever, but more importantly, he was the kind of person we all wish we could be.” And it’s true. God speed, Mr. Harwell.

you meant so much to so many…

Sadly, I never met either of my grandfathers. But, Ernie was like a grandfather. He told great stories about the old days and he helped connect baseball between the generations. I know that a big part of why I love the game so much is because of listening to him as a young boy. I really feel like I’ve lost a family member.

Ernie actually lived with Lulu two streets back from my house growing up. I had met him a few times when I was little, however, I really had no idea of how much of a legend he was until one day when I went to my grandfathers for a stretch in the summer, and he played me some old recorded games he had from the 1984 run. I remember always thinking of how well he articulated the game and how well he complimented baseball.

After I got back home, I thought about it for a while and I wrote him a note about “how great he was as a speaker” and put it in his mailbox. I was too shy to walk up to him as he was on his porch and watched me drop it off (I was only about 8 to 10 at the time). But I remember as I pedaled away on my bike, I looked back and he was walking out, smiling, and took it out of the mailbox. Literally the next day I got a letter back saying that I was lucky to have a grandfather so interested in baseball, and how his goal was to give back to baseball the way it had given to him. (I searched all night in my old boxes and couldn’t find the note, still looking because I know I saved it, if I do find it I will upload it for all to see). The last time I ever saw him before he moved out of my subdivision was on Halloween, when he would always bid you farewell with an unforgettable “so long now”.

I was truly saddened to hear that he passed tonight, because I always hoped he would be able to see one last Tiger’s run to the pennant. Hope I didn’t bore you all with my story, RIP Ernie

Girardi didn’t know about the passing of Tigers announcer Ernie Harwell until he was asked about it after the game. Girardi got choked up almost immediately and left the press conference wiping away tears. "It’s a sad day for baseball," Girardi said. "I was fortunate enough to go to the ballpark when I believe I was with Florida and he read his poem about what baseball is. It’s special. He was a wonderful man, always great to me and he’ll be dearly missed. It’s not just a sad day in Detroit, it’s a sad day in baseball."

I met Ernie Harwell &AL-Kakine long time a ago both are icons now with the passing of Mr. Baseball one in is left standing [Al-kaline]…tears engolf me i will miss turning on the game and listen to perfectly organistrated broadcast from Ernie Harwell like so many people I can’t stop the tear accross my face now Erinie along with his wife their in heaven with the LORD, no pain & sufring…I comment you Kurt-beautiful piece, thanks again…now i’m going sign-off with Erine Harwell- ’’it was long gone and his took the pitch like a slide of the road . So long Erine I will sorely miss listening Tiger baseball.

I can’t get the tears out of my eyes this morning…so many incredibly sweet summer memories. There will never be another like him

True story: in 2001, when the Cubs played the Tigers in interleague play, I went and sat in my car — the only place I could hear WJR in those pre-MLB Audio days — just so I could hear Ernie Harwell call a Cubs game on the radio.

Baseball has lost a giant of broadcasting, but more than that, a kind and gentle man.

Here are my thoughts at Bleed Cubbie Blue on why this means so much to the entire baseball family.

Go in peace Ernie.

My memories of my childhood, like many of yours, is filled with the legendary calls of Ernie Harwell. I grew up and live in Northern Michigan, with little opportunity to attend Tiger’s games in person. I still got to be there, in the stadium, because of Ernie. He painted the pictures of the field and made each call come alive in my mind. His calls fostered the love for baseball so much that when I went to college I took broadcasting classes to learn how to be a play by play announcer. With each call, I only hoped that I could paint that picture as well as Ernie did.

My deepest sympathies go out to the family of Ernie Harwell, the Tigers organization, and fans of the Tigers. Heaven has received an angel in a Tigers uniform.

Growing up with Ernie

It’s great to see the outpouring of emotions following the announcement of Ernie’s passing last night. The younger generation of Tiger fans may never have experienced what it was like, growing up with Ernie, but I think you can get the picture from some of us “old timers”.

It was a time when there were only three TV stations, four if you count channel 9 in Canada. Somewhere along the way during Ernie’s tenure, we got color TV’s, but there were still only one or two games a week on TV, so we got our baseball from the radio, on “the great voice of the great lakes”, WJR 760. Of course, there was no internet, no i-pods, and we got our music by riding our bikes to the record store and playing 45’s on a turntable. But every summer evening, we’d sit on the porch, or in the car, or in the back yard, and listen to Ernie. Ernie brought friends and families together, and he talked to us like he was our friend, or part of our family. Those who have met him say that he was exactly the same way in person.

For many of us, baseball was literally our pastime. That’s what we did as kids. For me, it was church on Sundays, hockey in the winter, baseball in the summer (and a bunch of Irish chit in between). We took our baseball gloves to school, every day and played baseball at recess during school. We played it in the street with a rubber ball all day in the summer, or at the park. We threw rubber coated hardballs at a box on the school wall. Baseball was life, and Ernie brought us baseball every night during the summer. We traded baseball cards, and put the duplicates in our spokes.

You can close your eyes and almost literally hear his voice. There’s a bounding ball up the middle for a base hit." “Sweeeeng anna miss, he struck him out.” “No runs, no hits, no erras, and nobody left on base, we go to the bottom of the first, the Yankees nothing and the Tigers coming to bat”, “and the pitch, called strike three, he stood there like the house by the side of the road, and watched that one go by”, “fly ball to left field, it’s deep and it’s looooong gone, a home run for Cecil Fielder”. I have a Tiger jersey with the number 68 and the name “Harwell” on the back. Ernie will always be my Tiger.

He was a class act, Ernie was. A Detroit icon, a role model, a good Christian, a Gentleman, a man for the ages. I was sure that I would cry when he finally passed after his bout with cancer, but I didn’t. I shed some tears when I first heard the news last fall, and then he came out and put life in perspective for all of us. Yesterday, I got choked up and posted some thoughts on the internet. I was watching the Red Wings and the start of the Tiger game, and it all seemed to matter much less, in perspective. Seasons come and seasons go, but the spirit of Ernie Harwell lives on. May he rest in peace.

Kurt- You mirror what we all feel. Thanks.
I’m 54 years old and have known Ernie since I was 9. I missed him terribly when I went away to college and couldn’t get WJR in Bloomington, Indiana. I moved to Florida in ’89 and suddenly could get Ernie and WJR during late West Coast games when the Cuban station went off the air. I actually saw more of Ernie in Lakeland in the spring until he retired.

There is a human need to affirm that which is good and positive in our lives. The outpouring of love and affection for the man, the way he affected how so many of us grew up, and the way we live our lives is truly amazing.

Ernie was a great announcer and a big part of the fanship of those raised before the Internet.

It a way, it’s sad to me that generations younger than their 20’s may never know the relationship that exists between the true fan and baseball radio announcer. Our relationship with Ernie was formed by clinging to his every word. For me, my clearest memories are of the West Coast games where I would be in bed as a young teen, lights out, just Ernie, the Tigers, and I. I’d start listening at 10pm and if the game wasn’t a laugher one way or another, I’d listen until it was over. Eyes closed, fingers crossed, and depending on Ernie for every update.

These days, you watch the games on TV…Rod and Mario are there, but you’re WATCHING the game; you don’t need ‘em like we needed Ernie. The game is on, but kids are crawling around, dinner is on the stove, laundry is drying, and it’s just not the same. If we can’t catch the game on TV, we’re on some gamechannel or other tech gadget that doesn’t have personality…just lots of numbers and pretty graphics. Ernie was personality.

I’ll miss Ernie not only because he was a great man, but because he takes that era with him. He molded our fanships in the way that a parent molds the people their children will grow up to be.

From a Twins fan.

Best way to honor his memory is to go out and play a hell of a ballgame today.

Glad you found something in the piece.