Q: With spring training starting, I was wondering about Ernie Harwell, the longtime announcer for the Detroit Tigers. I know he was from Georgia. Can you fill me in on some of the details of his life?
A: Georgia always was a part of Harwell, even though he left his native state in 1948 to broadcast baseball games for the Brooklyn Dodgers, the New York Giants and the Baltimore Orioles before becoming the beloved voice of the Detroit Tigers in 1960.
He was born in Washington, about 45 miles southeast of Athens, but grew up in Atlanta, where it’s said he delivered Margaret Mitchell’s newspapers.
Harwell loved baseball.
He soaked up Atlanta Crackers games on the radio before attending Emory University, and also found time to work for The Sporting News and the Atlanta Constitution.
Radio was calling, though, and he broadcast Crackers games before serving in the Marines in World War II.
When he returned, Harwell continued to call Crackers games before he was traded (Yes, traded for a real player) to the Dodgers, who needed someone to fill in for their announcer.
Harwell then worked for the Giants and the Orioles before landing in Detroit, where he became a part of franchise history by calling games for more than 40 years.
“Ernie is probably the most beloved person who has ever been in Detroit with the Detroit Tigers,” former Detroit star Al Kaline told MLB.com in 2002. “He is loved by everybody, and rightfully so. He’s a great broadcaster but even a better person. That comes across on his broadcasts.”
Stories abound of Harwell’s kind nature and generosity with his time and knowledge.
Harwell retired in 2002 and died of cancer in 2010, when he was 92.
With spring training under way, it’s appropriate to include the Bible verses with which Harwell recited at the start of the first spring game every year.
“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 is heard in our land.”
—Song of Solomon 2:11-12
Harwell was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1981 and is joined by six players from Georgia (according to their Hall of Fame bios). They are: Ty Cobb (Narrows), Josh Gibson (Buena Vista), Johnny Mize (Demorest), Jackie Robinson (Cairo), Bill Terry (Atlanta) and Frank Thomas (Columbus).
More on meteorologists: I received a note from Canton's Andrew Rowe about last week's column on longtime Atlanta meteorologists.
While I focused on TV folks, he brought up AM 750 WSB’s Kirk Mellish, who has been with the station since 1987.
“Though not a TV personality, I don’t think a list of longtime Atlanta meteorologists is complete without a reference to Kirk Mellish,” Rowe wrote in an email. “Kirk’s reliable forecasts and his ‘Mellish Meter’ have informed many Atlanta radio listeners over the years.”
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