ERNIE HARWELL
Broadcaster, 1960-2002
--Class of 2005--
Born - 1/25/1918
Biography:
While Ty Cobb may be the most famous Detroit Tiger ever, he nonetheless cannot lay claim to the most beloved Georgian in team history. That honor clearly goes to Ernie Harwell. Known as the golden voice of the Tigers, Ernie Harwell is in league with Al Kaline as one of the most influential and enduring names of the second half of the 20th century. He enjoyed stints with the Atlanta Crackers, Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Giants, and Baltimore Orioles before coming to Detroit, where he replaced veteran broadcaster Van Patrick. He immediately became known for his inviting, low-key southern delivery. And his stories of baseball yesteryear soon became as much a part of his broadcasts as the game itself. Although most of them came late in his career, Harwell's classic catch-phrases have become part of the baseball lexicon, not only in Detroit but throughout Major League Baseball. His famed strikeout call, "he stood there like the house by the side of the road," is also his oldest. That phrase came from a poem called "The House by the Side of the Road," that he recited as a ten year-old in the fifth grade. Other legendary Harwell catch-phrases included his home run call ("it’s LONG gone") and his double-play call ("two for the price of one"). Another of Ernie's signature calls was his assigning of hometowns to foul balls caught in the stands. Fans across the state quickly caught on, asking him to plug their hometown on the air, and by the late 1970s it was a Tiger Stadium tradition. Throughout his career Harwell teamed with George Kell, Bob Scheffing, Gene Osborne, Ray Layne, Rick Rizzs, Bob Rathbun, Al Kaline, Jim Price, and Dan Dickerson, but he's best remembered for his partnership with Paul Carey. The legendary broadcasting duo were paired from 1973 until 1991, when Carey retired and Harwell was summarily fired by the Tigers' flagship station, WJR. A hellstorm ensued. Fans threatened to boycott not only the team, but Tigers owner Tom Monaghan's Domino's Pizza franchises. As a result, Harwell's departure from the Tigers was short-lived. He returned to radio for three innings with his apparent replacements –- Rick Rizzs and Bob Rathburn -– for one season, and between 1994 and 1998 did television broadcasts on cable and local TV, before returning to radio in 1999. He remained a radio mainstay until his retirement on September 29, 2002. The only broadcaster to ever be traded for a player, Harwell was the first active announcer to be honored with the Ford C. Frick Award, which cemented his place in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Harwell's portrait is located at the one of the main entrances at Comerica Park, along with a life-size statue honoring his illustrious broadcasting career. In 2004, the Detroit Public Library dedicated a room which will house his personal collection of baseball memorabilia. Harwell was eventually elected to the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 1989, the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame in 1989, and in perhaps his greatest achievement as a broadcaster, the Radio Hall of Fame in 1998. And in 2001, the legacy of legendary Detroit Tigers radio voices came full circle, when Harwell won the Ty Tyson Award for Excellence in Broadcasting.