Sat Nov 21 2009
The World Series, baseball's swan song for another season, began last night with Cliff Lee outdueling C.C. Sabathia.
I couldn't watch it, instead opting for the Ohio Northern University Singers concert at the Defiance Arts and Media Center (the concert, by the way, was fabulous).
For the non-baseball fans out there, Lee and Sabathia are the last two recipients of the American League Cy Young Award, given to the league's best pitcher. They captured those awards while pitching for the Cleveland Indians. The Indians, knowing they would be unable to sign either pitcher at the end of their contracts, traded both players for "prospects."
As a lifelong Tribe fan, this is a difficult subject to discuss. So I will stop now and switch subjects to a more pleasant baseball topic -- announcer Ernie Harwell.
The mere mention of Harwell, though he was the longtime radio voice of the rival Detroit Tigers (the only time I ever root for the Tigers is when they play the Yankees), brings back fond memories of my youth.
I recall first listening to Harwell and George Kell broadcast Tiger games (and hearing many Stroh's Beer commercials) while playing in my grandparents' large back yard in Adrian, Mich., during the summer of 1961.
The fearless triumvirate of sluggers Rocky Colavito, Norm Cash and Al Kaline hit many home runs, causing Harwell to remark, "That ball is loooooong gone!"
When second baseman Jake Wood would strike out, as he did regularly, Harwell would tell listeners, "he stood there like the house by the side of the road."
The names of other Tiger players that year became forever etched in my memory -- catchers Dick Brown and Mike Roarke, third baseman Steve Boros, shortstop Chico Fernandez, center fielder Billy Bruton, pinch hitter Charlie (Paw Paw) Maxwell and pitchers Jim Bunning, Paul Foytack, Frank (the Yankee killer) Lary, Don Mossi and Hank Aguirre.
My grandfather Brad would always cringe when Aguirre, a notoriously weak hitter, would step into the batter's box.
"I can hit better than he can," he would say. And, even realizing that my grandfather was 70, I nodded my head in agreement.
Cash was known for his sense of humor and also for never wearing a helmet during his entire playing career, which lasted until 1974.
In one famous episode, while running the bases, he attempted to call time out when he was about to be tagged out. Another time, in July of 1973 when the Tigers were being dominated by California Angels' Nolan Ryan, Cash brought a table leg to the plate instead of a bat (he had struck out three times already that game).
Detroit finished 101-61 in 1961, their finest regular season record since 1934. Unfortunately, they still finished eight games behind the Yankees.
A trip to the Motor City to see the Yankees was the highlight of my summer. Tiger Stadium's seats placed fans as close to the action as any ballpark, even though several lower-deck seats behind third base had their views of the mound and home plate blocked by posts.
Tiger Stadium had a center field flag pole which was actually in play. Another unique feature was the right field upper deck, which hung over the front row of the lower deck.
Harwell referred to the place as the corner of Michigan and Trumbull or simply, "The Corner."
Each year, before his broadcast of the first spring training game in Lakeland, Fla., the devoutly Christian Harwell recited from the biblical Song of Solomon:
For the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;
The flowers appear on the earth;
The time of the song of the birds has come,
And the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.
Last month Harwell, 91, was diagnosed with inoperable cancer.
"Whatever happens, I'm ready to face it," he said. "I have a great faith."
With such a positive attitude, there's only one thing to say.
"Enjoy the Series, Ernie."
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