And, yes, not to be left out I have mine...
My story cannot compare to that of a Mitch Albom, who so eloquently tells his story here with the Detroit Free Press here.
Or Jim Rome, who spent the first hour of his Wednesday show talking about him and Tour Stop 31 in 2003...((HT: PurpleLatex))
But someone like Harwell, when he rubs off on you, you never forget...
In 2002, he was making his farewell tour. And a lot of us in the business were making a huge fuss over the whole thing- something Harwell, I'm sure, pooh-poohed up-and-down since he never thought of himself as that much of a big deal.
I decided that when he came to HQ's base of Atlanta, I wanted to spend some time getting Ernie to talk about the past and the present. The Tigers organization told me to send a note to his representatives. The Tigers were playing the Diamondbacks in Phoenix, so I faxed a two-page letter to the hotel explaining what I wanted to do. I'm fairly certain, to this day, I have the letter somewhere in the stacks of paper I call "my life."
Returning home from a party at one in the morning, my cell phone starts ringing. Since I didn't have a holster to put it in while I drove, I dropped it in between my golf shirt and undershirt. It was resting on the belt line, and as I fished for it, I think I keyed it to answer.
After what seemed like forever, I dragged it out from the in-between and said hello...
"Mister Nelson?" the voice on the other end asked...
I knew exactly who it was...
"Well, sir," I replied, "my father is always 'Mister Nelson.' Mister Harwell, I'm just 'Jon.' But thank you for that..."
He laid out the time and place, and I was fortunate to sit with him for 17 minutes ((you remember little things like that)) to barely scratch the surface on a 60-year career. Good enough for, about, 2:00 minutes of tape that really should have been eight or nine. I'm fairly certain that I have that interview in the boxes of tapes that I call "my life."
And I realized after I hung up the phone for that call from Phoenix, that Ernie Harwell, THAT ERNIE FREAKING HARWELL, was hearing some odd sounds for forever before I found my phone...
Here's the story we did on Harwell during his farewell tour...
((HT: WGCL-TV))
But I wasn't done...
There was one more game I wanted, almost needed, to watch... his last... in Toronto against the Blue Jays on September 29th. I was one of the few, strangely and surprisingly so, to stay in the Tigers radio booth on that day. The list was very small: The Tigers radio crew- Harwell, Jim Price, Dan Dickinson, the local radio engineer- a videographer from WDIV-TV, Richard Sandomir of the New York Times, Chuck Swirsky ((Toronto Raptors play-by-play announcer at the time)), and me...
Traffic was intermittent... a production assistant had a handful of baseballs for the gentleman eating his popcorn in the middle innings to sign- asking "Are you Mister Harwell...?"
And, then, he said a "Thank You."
Remember, it wasn't a good-bye... thanks to our friends at FSDetroit...
It's the only time I've ever asked an autograph from someone I interviewed...
The lessons I learned in only two days of being around him are still with me...
Two more tributes before I sign off...
One of Ernie's last public appearances was at the Fox Theatre in Detroit for a fundraiser and a promotion of Albom's latest book: "Have A Little Faith"
((HT: OfficialMitchAlbom))
And Vin Scully's story-telling of Harwell during last night's game- a delicate balance that he does all too well...
((HT: goopotato/KCAL/MLB))
We all have people that stick with us and, in Harwell's case, the Detroit Free Press' Mike Thompson has Ernie's next destination all figured out...
Thanks for everything...
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