Ernie Harwell, voice of the Tigers, dies at 92
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Longtime Detroit Tigers announcer Ernie Harwell died today, the team announced. Harwell, 92, was diagnosed with bile duct cancer eight months ago.
Fans and friends will be able to pay their respects at a public viewing at Comerica Park starting Thursday at 7 a.m.
This is what a great announcer means to baseball, and to sports fans.
Ernie Harwell
Harwell, a Georgia native, called more than 8,500 Major League Baseball games over 55 years, beginning on the radio. He called Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Giants and Baltimore Orioles games through the 1940s and 1950s before landing in Detroit in 1960. He retired in 2002 at the age of 84.
“Thank you for sneaking your transistors under the pillow as you grew up loving the Tigers,” he said in his sign-off. “Now God has a new adventure for me.”
Great announcers truly define the experience of watching your hometown team on television or listening to them on the radio. I don’t follow baseball but I told a friend recently that the local Caps announcers are like my favorite hockey uncles and when I watch the games that air on NBC it just isn’t the same, because they aren’t there. They know my players, my arena and my team. The response to Harwell’s death from Detroiters and baseball fans on Twitter and blogs tonight has reflected a similar feeling of losing an old friend, a childhood icon and the voice of a game that means so much to the people who love it.
“All of Major League Baseball is in mourning tonight upon learning of the loss of a giant of our game, Ernie Harwell,” said Commissioner Bud Selig.
Harwell addressed Tigers fans with grace and gratitude for the final time at a home game last September.
The Tigers will show him off in style. In addition to the viewing, Major League Baseball announced tonight that all Tigers uniformed personnel will wear a patch with his initials on their right sleeves for the rest of the season and a flag also bearing his initials will fly at half-mast all season at Comerica Park. The team will honor him at the park before Monday’s 7:05 p.m. game against the Yankees.
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