Ernie Harwell

Just like with the Iron horse himself, it's nice to see Tigers announcer Ernie Harwell honored while he's still living, speaking to the crowd at Tiger Stadium after having been diagnosed with inoperable something or other last week. A tuff year for longtime baseball announcers/broadcasters - first we lost Harry Kalas from the Phillies, and now the death watch for Harwell has begun. Meanwhile Vin Scully is 100 years old and science is baffled re: how Bob Shepherd is still alive. Nice job, Detroit!

The city of Detroit, the game of baseball and nation will miss Harwell's contributions, which includes a career in broadcasting for a number of major league baseball teams, numerous published works, national broadcast stints on television and radio covering All Star Games, the World Series and games of the week. He also produced a great four-CD set "Ernie Harwell's Audio Scrapbook" where he covers more than eight decades of his passion for baseball including discussions of his interviews legendary with the likes of such baseball greats as Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio and Connie Mack.