Ernie Harwell

Ernie Harwell, I know it’s usually Pete posting about baseball (and me about hockey), but it’s my turn for a baseball post.? Ernie Harwell, the long-time Detroit Tigers radio and TV announcer died tonight at age 92 after a battle with cancer. The voice of the summers of my childhood has been quieted and a piece of the innocence in all of us goes with it. He was a good man who got to spend his life around the game he loved and was able to share it with all of us with humility, class, and an abundance of grace.

If you didn’t grow up within earshot of the 50,000 watts of WJR in Detroit, you probably can’t quite understand this, but trust me when I say the man’s voice simply WAS summer.? It WAS baseball.? It WAS childhood.? It WAS Detroit.? And it WAS innocence.? And it was all of those things for several generations of Tigers fans.

No matter what was happening in my beleaguered hometown, from riots, to unemployment, to corruption, to an exodus, Ernie was the constant.? And every year, spring came and anything was possible for Detroit when Ernie came on the radio to call a Tigers game.? He stood above all the problems of that city with elegance, grace, class and never a nasty word for anyone.

If there’s a heaven, he’s in front of a microphone right now describing one helluva an all-star game, with none less of a star than he.? Thanks for everything Ernie.