Overview
- William Earnest Harwell born in Washington, GA (pop. 2,500), 25 Jan 1918
- Atlanta correspondent for The Sporting News, 1934-1948
- Sports department for the Atlanta Constitution, 1936-1940
- Graduated from Emory University, 1940
- Sports director for WSB Atlanta, 1940-1942
- Broadcast Georgia Tech Football, 1940
- Married Lulu (nickname for Lula) Tankersley, 30 Aug 1941(four children: sons Bill & Gray, twins Julie & Caroline)
- Called 1942 Masters Golf Tournament
- United States Marine Corp, 1942-1946
- Atlanta Crackers baseball announcer, 1943 & 1946-1948
- Brooklyn Dodgers baseball announcer, 1948-1949
- New York Giants baseball announcer, 1950-1953
- Baltimore Orioles baseball announcer, 1954-59
- Broadcast Baltimore Colts football games, 1955
- Called three All-Star Games: 1958 (Baltimore); 1961 (Boston); 1991 (Toronto)
- Detroit Tigers baseball announcer, 1960-1991 & 1993-2002 (42 years)
- Broadcast Michigan State football games, 1963
- CBS Radio Game of the Week, 1992 & 1994
- Called last game as Tiger’s announcer on 29 Sep 2002: Blue Jays 1, Tigers 0
- Went public with his diagnosis of terminal cancer, 4 Sep 2009
- Last appearance at Comerica Park, 16 Sep 2009
- Died in Novi (Oakland County) Michigan, 4 May 2010
Early Life
- Parents were Davis Gray and Helen Harwell (Davis went by middle name of Gray)
- Two older brothers: oldest Davis Jr. and Richard, i.e. Dick
- Ernie & Dick less than two years apart were inseparable linked by their mutual passion for their father’s game of choice, baseball. Dick was introverted and a voracious reader; Ernie was precocious and upbeat.
- Father friends with baseball pitcher Sherrod Smith
- At five years old family moved to Atlanta when father’s furniture business failed
- Passion for baseball sparked listening to 1926 World Series between the Cardinals & Yankees. Grover Cleveland Alexander struck out Yankee 2nd baseman Tony Lazzeri with the bases loaded & two outs in the 7th inning. Cardinals won it in the 9th when Ruth was thrown out trying to steal second. No radio speaker, so Ernie and brother Davis shared headphones with their heads sandwiched together – “from then on hooked on radio.”
- Listened and mimicked the voices of his beloved Atlanta Crackers – Jimmy Davenport and Mike Thomas
- As a youngster he would call imaginary broadcasts at Doc Green’s (former semi-pro ballplayer and friend of Ty Cobb) drug store with a pronounced speech impediment that prevented him from pronouncing the letter “s”
- Parents sent him to local elocution teacher who had him read passages from literature and poetry including Sam Walter Foss’s “The House by the Side of the Road” later used as a signature call for a batter watching a called third strike.
- A few years after moving to Atlanta, father becomes paralyzed from the waist down after brain surgery to remove a tumor
- To support the family, mother made and sold baked goods from their house. Ernie helped by having at various times a paper route; selling magazines and Christmas cards
- One of his greatest thrills, March 1930 at age 12. Yankees in Atlanta for exhibition game. After the game Harwell met Ruth as he was leaving the field and asked for his autograph. Not having any paper, Harwell offered his shoe and Ruth obliged with a chuckle. It never occurred to Harwell to save the shoe.
- Attends his first World Series game in 1935 at Wrigley Field where the Cubs played the Tigers
- As a youngster, played 2nd base for the North Side Terrors of the American Legion
- Did not play high school baseball as he was busy with his jobs plus he didn’t think he could hit. It wasn’t until he was in the Marines that he discovered the source of his hitting troubles – he needed glasses.
- Knack for sales and passion for baseball merged when he’d go to the Ansley Hotel and pitch himself as a bat boy for the visiting ball club (against his beloved Crackers). Often paid with a broken bat or worn out baseball.
- In 1934, at age 16, wrote letter to The Sporting News, which he read religiously, offering his services as their Atlanta correspondent since news from the South was sparse.
- Attempting to hide his youth, he signed the letter “W. Earnest Harwell.” It worked & thus began a 31 year association with the publication. Eventually, he became one of several ghost writers for J.G. Taylor Spink, editor & publisher of TSN
Career
•At 18 years old conducted first interview of a major league ballplayer. In 1936,
Philadelphia Athletics in Atlanta to play the Crackers. Harwell arranged
to interview outfielder Wally Moses for Baseball Magazine. Moses was
conversing with two other players when Harwell arrived. Barely noticing him
the players continued their graphic recounting of their sexual exploits the
night before. Harwell learned an invaluable lesson: ballplayers are human, not
gods.
•1948 traded from Atlanta Crackers broadcast booth to that of the Brooklyn Dodgers
for catcher Cliff Dapper on the Dodgers minor league team in Montreal. Branch
Rickey, Dodgers owner, needed a replacement for regular announcer Red
Barber who was suffering from a perforated ulcer; Crackers owner, Earl Mann,
wanted Dapper to manage his team the next year.
•1951 pennant race ended in a tie between the Dodgers and Giants which forced a three
game playoff. In game three, with the Dodgers leading 4-2 in the 9th with one out
and two men on, Bobby Thomson hit a line drive into the leftfield seats. Harwell
and his partner Russ Hodges alternated between radio and television through
out the series, and it was Harwell’s turn to become the voice of television for the
big day. Harwell figured he lucked out because he was the only TV voice, as
opposed to one of many on radio. He figured wrong. Hodges’ call of the most
famous moment in baseball history has been played more than any
broadcaster’s call: “The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!”
video cassette recorders weren’t yet invented, so there is no record of Harwell’s
NBC-TV call.
•Called radio broadcast of 1958 All-Star game held in Baltimore (Collection has his NL
lineup card.)
•With George Kell’s recommendation, Harwell hired as his broadcast partner in 1960 for
Tiger games. The man who worked in Atlanta, New York, & Baltimore took root
in Detroit. This move marked a crossroads in his personal life as well. Both his
parents died ,six days apart in Feb 1960, in his first spring training with the
Tigers.
•Along with Joe Garagiola called the 1963 World Series, between the Yankees and the
Los Angeles Dodgers, for NBC radio. A slice of Harwell’s call of Game 2 can
be heard coming out of a radio in the film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
Harwell can also be seen and/or heard in Tigertown, Cooperstown, Aunt Mary,
Cobb, and Paper Lion.
•Blessed with witnessing great players with the teams he worked for: With Dodgers
got to call games with Jackie Robinson; with Giants he saw the debut
of Willie Mays; with Baltimore Orioles saw the replacement of 3rd basemen
George Kell with Brooks Robinson; with the Tigers witnessed the career of Al
Kaline.
Major Awards
•Inducted into Baseball Hall of Fame, 2 Aug 1981
•Adrian College, honorary degree, 3 Sep 1985
•Michigan Sports Hall of Fame, 1989
•National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Hall of Fame, 1989
•Northern Michigan University, honorary degree, 15 Dec 1990
•Radio Hall of Fame 1998
•Ty Tyson Award for excellence in broadcasting awarded by Detroit Sports
Broadcasters Association, 2001
•University of Michigan, honorary degree, 26 Apr 2008
•Wayne State University, honorary degree, 3 May 2008
Sidelights
•Margaret Mitchell
Connection to Margaret Mitchell – author of Gone With the Wind – began when she was on his paper route; he also sold her Christmas cards and she bought baked goods from his mother. Another connection to Mitchell is through his brother Dick, who received a signed copy of GWTW from Mitchell in 1936. This copy became the first item in what would become a large GWTW memorabilia collection. Dick often socialized with Mitchell and her husband. A renowned Confederate historian, Dick wrote four GWTW related books. It was from Dick that Ernie gained interest in writing. Dick died in 1988.
•WSB radio
Among notables interviewed: Ted Williams, Connie Mack, Pee Wee Reese, boxer Jack Dempsey, golfing great Bobby Jones, and first tennis Grand Slam
winner Don Budge. At WSB Ernie called GA Tech football games and the
Masters Golf Tournament in 1941.
•Ty Cobb
Harwell traveled to Cobb’s hometown of Royston, GA to interview the legend.
Despite his reputation as cantankerous and ornery, Ernie always found him
agreeable and accommodating. Harwell, a baseball historian, was fascinated by
Cobb’s career and could never read or write enough about him.
•Baseball Collection
Ernie’s baseball collection began when he took money earned from his paper route and began purchasing Reach, Spaulding, Beadle, and DeWitt guides; and The Sporting News magazine. The collection grew to include photos, cards, programs, media guides, books, etc. . . that he donated to DPL in 1966 because the collection was becoming too large and because he became uncomfortable with collecting, seemingly, just for the sake of collecting.
•Photo Collection
Bill Kuenzel (d. 1964), one of the first sports photographers in the country who
worked for the Detroit News from 1901-mid 1950s, had collected hundreds of
photos. During the 1950s, he approached Tigers owner, Walter O. Briggs, with
The idea of publishing them in an anniversary book. Briggs rejected the idea and
Kuenzel gave the photos to an assistant. This man’s son, in turn, sold them to
Harwell. The collection included scrapbooks of 8X10 World Series photos 1905
to mid 1950s, team pictures, individual shots, and action shots. These photos
were part of initial donation to the library in 1966.
•USMC
Never saw combat duty. Served primarily as writer in Atlanta, Richmond, NC, Washington, DC. Wrote for official marine publication Leatherneck.
•Jackie Robinson
First year in major league baseball was 1948 when Robinson was Dodgers’ 2nd
baseman. Robinson was the most exciting and competitive player Harwell ever
saw. He was also the player who got the most out of his abilities – not the most
talented – more determination than natural ability. When traveling with the team,
he often played card games with players Pee Wee Reese, Gil Hodges, and
Robinson.
•Willie Mays
Greatest player Harwell ever saw “And I always say that without hesitation.
Willie’s joy of playing impressed me more than anything else. The verve he
played with, the boyishness he showed on the field. . . . He had so much ability
and could beat you so many ways. . . . Willie was a natural born baseball star
from the beginning.”
•Christian faith
Became a born-again Christian at a Billy Graham Easter service in Bartow, FL ,
just outside Lakeland, during Tiger spring training in 1961. He helped establish
baseball chapel with Bobby Richardson, Yankee 2nd baseman during the Mantle
years. Baptized in the Jordan River on 8 Jan 1985 where its believed that John
the Baptist baptized Jesus. Harwell is humble about his faith and doesn’t force
it on anyone.
•Song Writer
Has had 65 of his songs recorded. Most famous song to baseball fans is “Move
Over Babe, Here Comes Henry” during Aaron’s pursuit of Ruth’s all-time home
run record. Aaron allowed his image & autograph on the record sleeve. The man
who got Ruth to sign his shoe, got the man who broke Ruth’s record to sign his
record jacket more than 40 years later. His most famous writing, however, isn’t a
song but an ode to baseball – written in 1955 & then recited, in part, at his Hall of
Fame induction in 1981 – A Game for All America.
•Most embarrassing mistake during broadcast:
Tigers at California Angels. Game tied 1-1 in 8th . Dave Collins of the Angels
stole home. Tiger manager Ralph Houk came out to protest. As Ernie described
the scene he said “Bill Freehan is there, too. Now Freehan is beating his meat at
home plate.” He meant to say mitt.
•Jose Feliciano
Harwell selected him to sing the national anthem for Game 5 of the 1968 World
Series on October 7. Feliciano’s bluesy rendition set off a firestorm of
controversy. Harwell remains unapologetic to this day and believes it was
both well done and appropriate. “I felt he did it in a good way. It was sort of
stylized, but he did it that way because that was his style and he was just paying
tribute to the country.”
•Urinal
When asked what memento he wanted to take with him from Tiger stadium
Harwell replied, “The thing I want most is the urinal in the visiting clubhouse
because every Hall of Famer from Babe Ruth to Mark McGwire used it.”
When asked later if he ever got the urinal, a disappointed Harwell replied, “No,
Lulu wouldn’t let me bring it home. I tried to tell her how nutritious it would
be for her garden. I told her what a good thing it would be for her roses, but
she didn’t think it was a very good idea.”
Signature Phrases
•"Does a baseball announcer need signature phrases – trademarks by which his
listeners identify him? I don’t think so. . . . if the phrases come naturally,
that’s fine. But if they are contrived, they don’t work. . . . Most of my
special phrases came late in my career." (My 60 Years, p.84)
•Exception was called third strike call “He stood there like the house by the side of the
road” that he began using in 1946 calling Atlanta Cracker games
•Another called third strike, "He's out for excessive window shopping”
•"Loooooong Gone!" began in the 1980s for a home run
•"Two for the price of one" double play call began in the 1970s
• Exclaiming "The Tigers need instant runs" when Detroit had fallen behind by more
than two or three runs
• Frequently referring to the location of Tiger Stadium as "the corner of Michigan and
Trumbull," or simply "the corner"
• Following up foul balls into the crowd with, "That one was caught by a fan from
_____," and inserting the name of a Michigan town or city
• Beginning the first spring training broadcast of each season with a reading from the
Song of Solomon 2:11-12: "For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;
the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the
voice of the turtle[dove] is heard in our land;"
Sources
Harwell, Ernie. The Babe Signed My Shoe: Baseball as it was –
and will always be. Tales of the Grand Old Game. Edited by Geoff Upward.
South Bend, IN: Diamond Communications, 1994.
----------------. Diamond Gems. Edited by Geoff Upward. Ann Arbor, MI: Momentum
Books, 1991.
----------------. Life After Baseball. Detroit, MI: Detroit Free Press, 2004.
---------------- and Keegan, Tom. My 60 Years in Baseball. Chicago: Triumph Books, 2002.
---------------. Stories from My Life in Baseball. Detroit: Detroit Free Press, 2001.
---------------. Tuned to Baseball. South Bend, IN: Diamond Communications, 1985.