Latest / Retro Sports Radio: Classic Games from History / 2006 • Baseball Clip • Ernie Harwell - Signature Calls - Radio Interview Part 8 of 8

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2006 • Baseball Clip • Ernie Harwell - Signature Calls - Radio Interview Part 8 of 8 · Retro Sports Radio: Classic Games from History

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  This is RetroSports Radio.
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  Visit RetroSeasons.com for more sports history.
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  Here's the set.
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  Here's the pitch.
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  He swings us along once.
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  It is long gone.
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  A home run.
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  Not all broadcasters, sportscasters,
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  have a signature call.
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  Some do.
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  You do.
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  I do.
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  But not everybody.
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  You didn't start out to have a signature call, did you?
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  No, I just started out doing the game.
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  And whatever the signature two calls that developed for me
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  just sort of happened.
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  I think probably the first one I came up with was,
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  he stood there like the house by the side of the road
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  and watched it go by when a guy took a call third strike.
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  There's a breaking ball in for a strike.
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  And he stood there like the house by the side of the road
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  and watched it go by.
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  Struck him up.
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  That's the third strikeout for holiday.
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  Long gone was my so-called home run call.
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  But I really didn't do that until the late 80s or the mid-80s.
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  I didn't do it in 84.
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  And somehow I just began to say, it's going.
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  It's a long one.
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  It's gone.
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  It's long gone.
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  And then I cut it back to long gone.
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  And then people sort of asked me to keep doing it.
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  So I did.
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  Right hander against the right hander.
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  The outfield is straight up in deep on Fielder.
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  He is the DH today.
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  Swing, there's a drive to left.
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  That one is long gone.
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  Fielder weighs into that first pitch
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  with his 29th home run of the year.
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  Learning another one of your signature calls
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  is on your call for a double play.
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  Two for the price of one.
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  Where'd you start that from?
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  You know, I don't know when that started,
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  or where it came from.
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  Maybe it was inspired by Lulu's shopping philosophy.
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  Set the pitch.
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  He swings, bounding ball, stopped by Truby
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  for the second one, really the first.
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  Two for the price of one for the Tigers.
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  A great play by Truby to end the third inning.
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  The foul ball, caught by a man from Saginaw.
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  Yeah, that's another one of those accidents.
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  I never did that in any other place.
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  I didn't do it in Brooklyn or New York or Baltimore.
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  But when I got to Detroit, I guess about the first year or so,
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  maybe in 60 or 61, somebody hit a foul ball.
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  I said to my partner, that guy that caught that ball
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  is from Saginaw, I said.
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  And then he just sort of caught on.
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  And I'd walk through the ballpark,
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  and somebody would say, hey, let a guy from Gross Point
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  catch one today.
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  Or somebody would say, hey, a lady from Windsor
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  never has caught one.
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  Why don't you let a lady from Windsor
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  catch a foul ball tonight?
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  So that's what we did.
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  And then when we went on the road,
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  we would know some outlying cities,
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  like New Rochelle in New York or Tunifly, New Jersey.
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  A guy from Tunifly would catch it.
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  If you were in Chicago, a fellow from Evanston
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  might have caught that one, that kind of thing.
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  It was a lot of fun.
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  We enjoyed that.
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  Infield in double play depth for the Mariners.
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  They've had a lot of ground balls so far today.
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  Here's the pitch on the way.
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  He swings and fouls it off.
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  It'll reach the seats over back of the Tiger dugout.
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  And the man from Walla Walla will take that one home.
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  Did you ever let a lady from Kentucky catch one?
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  No, Lulu had to stay home and take care of the kids.
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  From the greatest managers, players, broadcasters,
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  and team, we're going to shift now
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  to your most embarrassing moment.
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  What was the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to you
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  while you were either on the air or in the booth?
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  I had a lot of embarrassing moments in my career,
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  but I think the one that was most embarrassing
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  happened in California.
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  The Tigers were playing the California Angels,
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  and Collins was at third base.
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  Freehand's a catcher, and Collins steals home.
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  He's called safe on a very close play at the plate.
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  There's an argument ensues.
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  Ralph Halk comes out of the dugout,
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  and I says, here comes Halk out.
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  He's arguing with the umpire, and Bill Freehand at the plate,
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  and he's beating his mitt at home plate.
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  So luckily for me, it happened about 2 o'clock
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  in the morning, Detroit time, and you know,
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  never heard a peep out of anybody,
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  except one guy, my friend Pete Sark,
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  who was an announcer who lived in Flint.
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  He called me the next day and said,
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  do you know what you said?
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  I said, I don't know.
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  I sort of thought I made a slip,
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  but Paul Kerry didn't react.
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  What was it?
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  And he told me, and I dropped the phone.
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  Oh, me.
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  Oh, me.
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  Woo.
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  Ha, ha, ha, ha.
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  Woo.
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  My son, he steps away from the plate, gets back in.
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  Collins is coming down that line a little leisurely right now.
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  Crawford looks over to him.
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  Now, here he comes to the plate, stealing home the throw,
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  and he is safe.
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  He gets a steal of home by Collins.
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  Freehand is putting up a dam on argument with Garcia,
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  the plate on fire.
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  He claims he had him.
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  Here comes Rob Halk out.
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  He's getting in on the argument.
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  Crawford is over there watching.
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  Freehand is meeting his minutes of place.
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  That's probably something that you're not most proud of,
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  but one of some of the things you are most proud of.
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  One of the highlights of my career, I think,
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  was being put in the Guinness Book of Records,
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  the only media member who's in the Book of Records,
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  and I'm in there as the most enduring baseball announcer.
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  I'm very proud of the fact that the folks at the tower out
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  at Metropolitan Airport named an airspace after me,
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  so if you come in maybe over Jackson, coming into Detroit,
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  you got to go through an airspace named Ernie Horwell.
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  First active broadcaster to enter the Hall of Fame.
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  And I'm very proud of the press box dedication at Comerica Park
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  that the Tigers accorded me, plus the stature
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  that Mike Illich had constructed for me that is there
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  in the ballpark.
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  By the way, that stature did a good job
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  because they put all the wrinkles in my pants.
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  I weigh 350 pounds, and I'm hollow.
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  Sports Illustrated named to me as the radio announcer
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  for their all-time dream team when they selected
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  that team a couple of decades ago.
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  And I'm very proud that the Detroit Public Library dedicated
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  a room to Lulu and me to house my sports collection.
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  How would you want to be remembered?
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  I'd like to be remembered in the world
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  of some real rich guy.
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  That's how I'd like to be remembered.
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  Have you got any prospects for me?
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  Well, I think the Bible in Micah says,
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  son of man, what does God require of you but to do justice,
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  love mercy, and walk humbly with your God?
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  And that's what I've tried to do.
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  I probably haven't done it very well,
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  but I'd like to be remembered as making a try at that.
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  The Tigers have just finished their 2002 season,
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  and I've just finished my baseball broadcasting career.
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  And it's time to say goodbye, but I think goodbye is a sad,
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  and I'd much rather say hello.
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  Hello to a new adventure.
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  I'm not leaving, folks.
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  I'll still be with you, living my life in Michigan,
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  my home state surrounded by family and friends.
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  And rather than goodbye, please allow me to say thank you.
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  Thank you for letting me be part of your family.
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  Thank you for taking me with you to that cottage up north,
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  to the beach, to picnic, your workplace, and your backyard.
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  Thank you for sneaking your transistor under the pillow
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  as you grew up loving the Tigers.
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  Now, I might have been a small part of your life,
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  but you've been a very large part of mine,
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  and it's my privilege and honor to share with you
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  the greatest game of all.
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  Now, God has a new adventure for me,
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  and I'm ready to move on.
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  So I'll leave you with a deep sense of appreciation
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  for your long-time loyalty and support.
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  I thank you very much, and God bless all of you.
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  This is an open letter to Ernie Harwell.
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  Dear Ernie, 53 years ago, I followed you into Brooklyn.
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  20 years ago, I followed you into the Hall of Fame,
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  and our relationship has only been perfect.
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  Baseball is so much richer for having you all these years
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  and poorer for losing you.
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  Sincerely yours with love and affection, Ben Scully.
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  Hi, Ernie.
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  Nice to see you, and congratulations on your retirement.
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  You deserve it.
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  I tell you, you've been one of the icons
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  in the history of the game of baseball,
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  and I feel very privileged to have been able to get to know you
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  way back when you were doing Oreo baseball,
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  going to your home and seeing the sporting news you had there,
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  the history of the game, meeting your twins.
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  And it's been a good role, and I tell you,
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  you're going to enjoy your retirement a great deal.
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  And I'm just privileged to be a part of baseball with you.
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  Thank you.
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  Hi, Ernie.
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  This is your old buddy, Tramp.
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  I know you're retiring from your broadcast booth,
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  but we all know this is just a semi-retirement.
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  Hope the best for you and Lulu in the coming years.
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  There's one phrase that's used quite often, you're the best.
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  But in your case, Ernie, you simply are the best.
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  We're going to miss you.
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  All of baseball and all Tiger fans are going to miss you.
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  Ernie, best of luck.
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  Mr. Harwell, this is Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees.
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  I just want to congratulate you on your retirement.
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  And from someone who grew up listening to you,
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  you will be greatly missed.
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  Ernie, I can't tell you how much I'm going to miss you.
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  I go back, like few other people anymore left in baseball,
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  to the old New York Giants when Ernie Harwell used to be
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  in the booth.
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  But what I'm going to miss most of all
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  is the visits in the clubhouse, the visit and the dugout,
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  being able to talk with the old Hall of Famer
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  and just talk about life.
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  You're such a wonderful human being.
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  There's plenty more gas left in the tank, my man.
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  And I hope you make a visit from time to time.
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  We're going to miss you.
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  Hello, Ernie.
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  I'll be so glad to have you home soon
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  to help me in the garden with getting rid of the old vegetable
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  garden and making a new one and planting some new roses.
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  It makes me think of how many times I've had to be alone.
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  And I want to thank the fans for giving you back
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  to spend the time with me.
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  Hurry up and get home, Ernie.
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  William Ernest Harwell began his broadcasting career
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  in Atlanta, Georgia in 1940.
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  From 1948 to 2002, he called over 8,000 baseball games.
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  And in 1981, received the greatest honor of them all,
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  induction into the baseball Hall of Fame.
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  From Jackie Robinson and Pee Wee Reese, Willie Mays and Bobby
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  Thompson to Leo DeRosher and Sparky Anderson.
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  Ernie painted a picture of baseball unlike any other.
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  Baseball is the president tossing out
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  the first ball of the season.
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  And a scrubby schoolboy playing catch
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  with his dad on the Mississippi farm.
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  A tall, thin old man waving a scorecard
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  from the corner of his dugout.
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  That's baseball.
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  And so is a big, fat guy with a bulbous nose running home
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  one of his 714 home runs.
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  There's a man in Mobile who remembers that Honest Wagner
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  hit a triple in Pittsburgh 46 years ago.
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  That's baseball.
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  And so is a scout reporting that a 16-year-old pitcher
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  in Cheyenne is the coming Walter Johnson.
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  Baseball is a spirited race of man against man,
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  reflex against reflex, a game of inches.
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  Every skill is measured.
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  Every heroic, every failing is seen in cheer or booed
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  and then becomes a statistic.
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  In baseball, democracy shines its glaring.
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  The only race that matters is the race of the bag.
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  The Creed is a rulebook.
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  And color merely something to distinguish one team's
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  uniform from another.
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  Baseball is a rookie.
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  His experience is no bigger than the lump in his throat
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  as he begins full film of his dream.
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  And it's a veteran too.
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  A tired old man of 35 hoping that those aching muscles
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  can pull him through another sweltering August
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  and September nicknames of baseball, names
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  like Zeke and Pye and Kike and Home Run and Cracker
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  and Disney and Dancing.
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  Baseball is a clear cool eyes of Roger's Hornspeak,
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  the flashing spikes of a tie-com and an overage
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  pixie named Rabbit Moranville.
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  Baseball, just the game, as simple as a ball and batting,
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  yet as complex as the American spirit symbolizes.
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  A sport, a business, sometimes almost even religion.
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  While the fairy tale of Willie May is making a brilliant world
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  series catcher, then dashing off to play stickball
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  in the streets with his teenage fouls.
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  That's baseball.
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  So as a husky boy of a doom-blue Garry's Fang,
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  I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.
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  Baseball is a garth moat.
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  Hot roast at Tina's.
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  The sporting news.
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  Ladies' Day down in front.
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  Take me out to the ball game in the Star Spangled Banner.
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  Baseball is a tongue-tied kid from Georgia growing up
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  to be an announcer and praising the Lord for showing him
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  the way to Coopers Town.
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  This is a game for America.
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  Still a game for America, this baseball.
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  Thank you.
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  Thank you.