Good Thoughts for Ernie Harwell

[filkertom]

I somehow missed this last week. Hall of Fame broadcaster Ernie Harwell, the radio voice of the Detroit Tigers for decades, has inoperable cancer.

I have so many memories of listening to Tiger games when I was a kid, and all of them involve Harwell's warm, mellow voice. A true Southern gentleman with an evocative turn of phrase, he made every game seem both important and yet still fun, blending statistics, play-by-play, and anecdotes with little things like, "And a youngster from Sanilac, Michigan caught that foul ball". I always wondered how he could possibly know.

Mitch Albom has an article about how Ernie's facing this, with information about a charity book launch later this month to help the homeless in the Detroit area.

What are some of your favorite sports radio moments, if you have them? I will never forget Ernie announcing that we'd just won the pennant in 1968, and he said, "Let's listen to the bedlam here at Tiger Stadium!" and then he and Ray Lane just sat back and let the crowd go wild.

Comments

[qnofhrt.livejournal.com]

I too have warm memories of listening to Ernie call the Tigers games. He is one of the best IMO.

I also liked listening to Phil "The Scooter" Rizzuto when I lived in Syracuse for a couple of years. The Wiki entry lists his style as "popular but idiosyncratic". Which just about covers it.

[sdelmonte]

My favorite radio voice was late Mets play by play man Bob Murphy. And while he had a lot of good moments - distinctive pronouncation of players' names like Bob Apodaca, and the call of the Mets' come from behind win in Game Six of the 1986 - my favorite (and that of a lot of other fans) came after atypically frustrating game in 1990:

"A line drive caught. The game is over. The Mets win it. A line drive to Mario Diaz. And the Mets win the ballgame! They win the damn thing by a score of 10 to 9!"

[kilbia.livejournal.com]

I keep waiting to hear news of Bill Schonely, who used to call the Portland Trailblazers games when I was young.

[johnridley.livejournal.com]

I'm honestly not a sports fan, but I still enjoyed listening to Ernie call games. And a couple of weeks ago when my wife was describing a play to someone, I swear a little part of my brain heard Ernie's voice.

[janetmiles.livejournal.com]

The only sports announcer I've ever followed was John Ward, The Voice of the Vols -- he announced University of Tennessee football and men's basketball. I only followed him on football, though, and only from about 1996 until his retirement in 1999.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Oh, man. I watched that game live, but you had the better call.... what a comeback, eh?

Skip Caray for me... Braves '95, after they won it all: "It's Cocktail Time."

Although Dave Niehaus of the Mariners is, I think, actually more colorful.... "Get out the rye bread and the mustard, Grandma, it's a GRAND SALAMI!" But Skip... Skip could be *snarky*. *EG*

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Oh, *hellyeah*. I listened to Ward from about 1972 on. That guy could call a game. "Five! Four! Three! Two! GIVE HIM SIX!" Although he actually got his start doing basketball... "He shoots! Nothing but nylon!"

The Vols gave him one helluva sendoff, footballwise... "The National Champions are clad in BIG ORANGE." Which is classic John Ward delivery... :)

[markbernstein.livejournal.com]

For me, it's not a matter of specific moments as much as just having that voice be part of my life. Listening to him describing a batter taking a strike as, "He stood there like the house by the side of the road", for example.

I remember one April in the 90's mentioning on Usenet that I was "listening to one of my favorite signs of spring, Ernie and Paul calling the first exhibition game", and having three different people respond with "Ernie and Paul are on? What station?" or words to that effect.

[wood-dragon.livejournal.com]

I grew up listening to Ernie call games. I always loved "He stood there like the house by the side of the road and watched that one go by." for called third strikes.

Also loved listening to Bob Ufer call the Wolverines Football games.

[banjoplayinnerd.livejournal.com]

For any Mariners fan the best play-by-play call would be the final at-bat of game 5 of the 1995 American League Division Series. Just to set the table, the Mariners, perennial doormats of the American League West, had come from 13 1/2 games behind in late mid-August to tie the California Angels for the division championship, forcing the Mariners and Angels into a one-game playoff for the title. This game produced perhaps the second best play-by-play call, Rick Rizzs announcing a bases-loaded triple by Luis Sojo off of ex-Mariner Mark Langston: "Here comes Joey [Cora]. The throw to the plate is cut off. The relay by Langston gets by Allanson. Cora scores! Here comes Sojo! Everybody scores!"

After winning the one-game playoff but having to use ace Randy Johnson to do it, the Mariners are in a tough spot. They lose the first two games in New York and come back to Seattle where they battle to a 2-2 series tie, forcing the fifth game of the series.

Now flash forward to the 11th inning where Johnson is once again on the mound for the Mariners, but he gives up an RBI single to make the score 5-4. The Yankees bring in Black Jack McDowell, normally a starter, to close it out. Joey Cora lays down a bunt single, followed by a single by Ken Griffey Jr., and then Edgar Martinez steps up to the plate and Hall of Famer Dave Niehaus takes up the action:

Right now, the Mariners looking for the tie. They would take a fly ball, they would love a base hit into the gap, and they could win it with Junior's speed. The stretch, and the 0-1 pitch on the way to Edgar Martínez, swung on and lined down the left field line for a base hit! Here comes Joey. Here is Junior to third base, they're going to wave him in, the throw to the plate will beeee late! The Mariners are going to play for the American League championship! I don't believe it! It just continues! My oh my!

[sillyfox.livejournal.com]

No specific moment, but I grew up listening to the late great Harry Kalas providing the play by play for the Philadelphia Phillies.

...Okay, maybe one specific moment - calling Mike Schmidt's 500th home run. :)

[poltr1]

My favorite announcer has to be Rick Jeanneret of the Buffalo Sabres (NHL). He'd really get into the game. If Phil Housley scored a goal, it's "Wow-wee Hous-ley!" Or for a goal over the goaltender's shoulder: "Top shelf where mama hides the cookies!" I can't think of any one moment in particular, but there are a few of his gems on the web somewhere.

[bridgeweaver.livejournal.com]

Ernie Harwell is and always will be the voice of baseball to me, as Bruce Martin for hockey. They were the voices I grew up with, falling to sleep on a warm summer night in Ann Arbor, or a cold winter one for that matter. I actually met Mr. Harwell in the mid-eighties when was a member of a beep baseball team that played in Tiger Stadium. He has always struck me as one of the most purely decent human beings ever, and the world will surely be a poorer place when his time comes.

[sazettel.livejournal.com]

Last Wednesday they brought him out on the field during the 3rd inning to address the crowd, giving him what I could only think of as a Lou Gerigh moment. It was right. He deserved it. The crowd cheered and held up signs for him, the scoreboards flashed, his picture, name and stats and WE LOVE ERNIE. The players stood in a line their hands folded making a kind of honor guard as he spoke.

It was a victory lap and I'm glad the organization was classy enough to give it to him.