There's a man in Mobile who remembers that Honus Wagner hit a triple in Pittsburgh 46 years ago. That's baseball.
Ernie HarwellBut most of all, I'm a part of you people out there who have listened to me, because especially you people in Michigan, you Tiger fans, you've given me so much warmth, so much affection and so much love.
Ernie HarwellI praise the Lord here today. I know that all my talent and all my ability comes from him, and without him I'm nothing and I thank him for his great blessing.
Ernie HarwellWhen I went to Brooklyn in 1948 Jackie Robinson was at the height of his brilliant career.
Ernie HarwellI've been lucky to broadcast some great events and to broadcast the exploits of some great players.
Ernie HarwellI think I owe thanks to the people who have listened to me over the years, who tuned in on the radio. They have given me a warmth and loyalty that I've never been able to repay. The way they have reached out to me has certainly been the highlight of my life.
Ernie HarwellI think if you checked the attendance records of all the announcers, you'd find a lot better record than you would of anybody else in any other business because we love the game and have a passion for it.
Ernie HarwellEverybody in the minor leagues - if you're a player, an announcer, whatever - wants to be in the big leagues.
Ernie HarwellBaseball is a rookie, his experience no bigger than the lump in his throat as he begins fulfillment of his dream.
Ernie HarwellI had a job to do, and I did it all these years to the best of my ability. That's what I'd like to leave behind as I finish my final game in Toronto.
Ernie HarwellBaseball is just a game, as simple as a ball and bat, yet as complex as the American spirit it symbolizes. A sport, a business and sometimes almost even a religion.
Ernie HarwellI deeply appreciate the people of Michigan. I love their grit. I love the way they face life. I love the family values they have.
Ernie HarwellBaseball is a tongue-tied kid from Georgia growing up to be an announcer and praising the Lord for showing him the way to Cooperstown. This is a game for America. Still a game for America, this baseball!
Ernie HarwellWhy the fairy tale of Willie Mays making a brilliant World Series catch, and then dashing off to play stickball in the street with his teenage pals. That’s baseball. So is the husky voice of a doomed Lou Gehrig saying, ‘I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth.’
Ernie HarwellA tall, thin old man waving a scorecard from the corner of his dugout. That's baseball.
Ernie HarwellNicknames are baseball, names like Zeke and Pie and Kiki and Home Run and Cracker and Dizzy and Dazzy.
Ernie HarwellBaseball is a spirited race of man against man, reflex against reflex. A game of inches. Every skill is measured. Every heroic, every failing is seen and cheered, or booed. And then becomes a statistic.
Ernie HarwellThat other saying, I'm a part of all that I have met, I think that would have to begin with my wonderful parents back in Atlanta when I was a youngster five years old I was tongue tied.
Ernie HarwellI'd like to be remembered as someone who showed up for the job. I consider myself a worker.
Ernie HarwellI have great faith that Heaven's there and I'll see my brothers and my mom and dad when I get there.
Ernie HarwellI've found that if you wear a beret, people think you're either a cabdriver or a producer of dirty movies.
Ernie HarwellSo much happened (in 1968) it was hard to keep up with everything. We had Denny McLain's thirty-one victories, Gates Brown's great pinch-hitting in the clutch, Tom Matchick's home run to beat Baltimore in the ninth inning, then Daryl Patterson striking out the side to beat them in the ninth. Excitement every day in the ballpark.
Ernie HarwellBaseball is the president tossing out the first ball of the season. And a scrubby schoolboy playing catch with his dad on a Mississippi farm.
Ernie HarwellThe greatest single moment Ive ever known in Detroit was Jim Northrups triple in the seventh game of the World Series in St. Louis. It was a stunning moment because not only were the Tigers winning a world championship that meant so much to an entire city, they were beating the best pitcher I ever saw-Bob Gibson.
Ernie HarwellWheaties was the big sponsor in those days (1940s). They sponsored almost all the baseball games in the majors and the minors. That was a lot of Wheaties. I think there were twenty-four boxes in a case and some of these guys were hitting twenty-five and thirty home runs a season. We had a dog in those days named Blue Grass and the players used to give us their Wheaties for him. Blue Grass loved Wheaties and so did I.
Ernie HarwellIt's time to say goodbye, but I think goodbyes are sad and I'd much rather say hello. Hello to a new adventure.
Ernie HarwellBaseball is a lot like life. It's a day-to-day existence, full of ups and downs. You make the most of your opportunities in baseball as you do in life.
Ernie HarwellAlso I'm a part of the people that I've worked with in baseball that have been so great to me, Mr. Earl Mann of Atlanta, who gave me my first baseball broadcasting job.
Ernie HarwellIn baseball, democracy shines its clearest. The only race that matters is the race to the bag. The creed is the rule book. And color, merely something to distinguish one team's uniform from another's.
Ernie HarwellI think once you start as an announcer, you have to decide what kind of approach you're going to have. I decided very early that I was going to be a reporter, that I would not cheer for the team. I don't denigrate people who do it. It's fine. I think you just have to fit whatever kind of personality you have, and I think my nature was to be more down the middle and that's the way I conducted the broadcasts.
Ernie Harwell