Major League Baseball

Harwell's listeners pay their last respects

Published May. 7, 2010 3:17 a.m. ET

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It’s 7 p.m. The gates to Comerica Park have been open for 12 hours. The Red Wings are about to face elimination a mile away.

And people are still coming to see Ernie Harwell.

Harwell, who died Tuesday at 92, is lying in state inside Gate A, beside the statue erected in his honor. The public viewing for the Tigers’ iconic broadcaster will last until midnight. I’m beginning to wonder if that is long enough.

At last check, there was a 30-minute wait to enter the stadium. Gary Spicer, Harwell’s longtime friend and attorney, estimated that more than 10,000 fans would pay their respects before the night was done.

Extraordinary, isn’t it? How often do 10,000 people come to the same place, on the same day, drawn by nothing more than the tug of their hearts?

Ernie Harwell had that effect on people.

As I watched the crowd file past Ernie’s casket, I couldn’t help but notice the diversity among them. Men and women. Young and old. Black and white. Rich and poor.

I saw businessmen in suits. I saw people who probably don’t own a suit.

I saw strollers and wheelchairs; one man riding a mobility scooter, another walking with his guide dog. Women and men, crying.

I saw an outpouring of emotion for a man who tied us together, year after year, summer after summer, day after day.

He was calling Tigers games in 1967, when the city rioted, and 1968, when they were world champs. No matter how bad it got for Detroit, no matter how bad it got for the Tigers, he never left us.

I think a lot of people here today remember that.

The local NBC affiliate sponsored large white boards for people to sign as they exited the stadium on Thursday. Workers had to keep bringing new ones. Too many signatures.

One woman wore a black-and-white T-shirt that said “BO DON’T KNOW ERNIE’S FANS.” It was a reference to the unpopular firing of Harwell in 1991, for which then-club president Bo Schembechler was widely blamed.

Harwell later said that he wasn’t bitter toward Schembechler about the firing. Of course, he got his job back in relatively short order.

I wonder if the two of them are catching up now.

It’s important to note, too, that an American flag was draped over Ernie’s casket. He served in the United States Marine Corps during World War II. He was a certifiable hero long before his induction to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Many people cried Thursday. Some tried to smile. And all of us took time to remember.

Thousands of people felt compelled to drive downtown, dab their eyes, and pray for the soul of a man who meant so much to so many.

The world is full of royals and politicians and celebrities who will never get a sendoff like this.

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