May 10
6
A True Michigan Man
Many great writers and great speakers have had their say about how great of a person Ernie Harwell was. The radio has been full of stories of people who Ernie touched their lives in one way or another. People are taking time out of their day was we speak to go down to Comerica Park, and pay their last respects. I only met Ernie one time, I went to listen to him speak a few years back. He really experienced life, and had the gift of painting a picture for his listeners, that they feel like they were there with him also. I spent countless nights from April till September listing to Ernie tell the story of the Detroit Tigers games. I would listen as long as possible until I just could not stay up any longer. Besides going to Tigers Stadium with my grandfather and father to watch the Tigers play as a child, my greatest baseball memories are listening to Ernie call the games while I was supposed to be sleeping.
In his last speech at Comerica Park last September, Ernie said that he was happy that his journey was going to end in the Great State of Michigan. Michigan was lucky to have Ernie for 43 years. He will be greatly missed, but never really gone, because he made many generations of Michiganders Tigers fans, and even though he has not announced a game in 8 years, I still hear his voice when I at a game, giving me the play by play.