Cancer-Stricken Harwell More than Former Tigers Announcer

In face of cancer, Ernie Harwell reminds us he's more than just the Tigers' former announcer
by Steve Kornacki
Friday September 04, 2009, 9:44 PM



ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- There are treasures, and then there is Ernie Harwell. He's more than that.

When news spread that the longtime Detroit Tigers announcer had inoperable pancreatic cancer, I'll bet it stopped you in your tracks and sent a shiver down your spine. It probably brought a tear to your eye, too.


That's because none of us can imagine what the world will be like without Ernie.

He and I spoke Friday about his faith in God and what the doctors shared with him and his family. And I asked if he would be able to make the reunion for the 1984 World Series champion Detroit Tigers Sept. 28 at Comerica Park.

"Each day that goes by, I get weaker and weaker," Harwell said. "And so there is less chance of going. But I think that night belongs to the players, and it might be too much attention on me. I don't want to take away from the glory those players deserve.


AP File Photo
Ernie Harwell, shown with his wife, Lulu, in 2002, says he likely will not attend the 1984 World Series champion Detroit Tigers' reunion later this month at Comerica Park because he doesn't want his health to take attention from the team's accomplishment. The 91-year-old Harwell has inoperable pancreatic cancer."And I want them all to remember me the way I was when I was in better shape -- when I had hair."

And with that, he chuckled and made me laugh.

Isn't that just like Ernie, 91, putting you at ease and putting others before himself at a time like this.

He's lost 10 pounds, down to 140, but said he's eating again.

"You lose your appetite, but it's come back," Harwell said. "And then, you lose it again until the end and you just fade away."

He is not undergoing surgery or treatment upon the advice of his physicians.

"The doctors came over to our apartment," said Harwell, who lives in Novi with his wife of 68 years, Lulu. "And with the family around us, they told us of the examinations and suggested that, at this stage, the risk of operating or treatment is too high with the positive results being very low. It's so deep into my stomach.

"One of them said, 'If you were my dad, I'd tell you not to do anything.' And the family agreed. They said it was useless to do anything else, but I don't want anyone thinking I was a coward about the treatment and surgery."

Not that anyone was. But that's Ernie.

"This is very tough," said Jim Price, one of Harwell's many broadcast partners and the club's current radio analyst. "You never thought anything would happen to Ernie. You know, I can remember listening to Ernie do Baltimore Orioles games on the radio when I was 11 and growing up in Pennsylvania."

Price's eyes filled with tears and he looked away before smiling and recalling the stories Ernie would tell during his Hall of Fame broadcasting career.

"He'd talk about 'Four-Fingered' Brown, and I'd say, 'Give me a break.' "

Price chuckled at the memory.

You can laugh or cry at times like this, and Ernie would prefer you laughed.

And he appreciates your prayers.

"He's been such a spiritual leader," Tigers pitcher Nate Robertson said, "and a mentor to many. And how he's handling himself now, saying, 'I'm going to have an adventure.' It's because he knows he's going home.

"He's someone many look up to. And as great a broadcaster as he was, I'm most glad I got to know him for the kind of man he was."

Ernie said that the adventure he's anticipating will come in heaven.

"We all, as Christians, believe in the resurrection of Christ and eternal life," he said. "Whatever God wants me to do is fine. I surrendered my life to him a long time ago."

And it has been a life that touched countless people.

"He's very special to me," Price said. "You know, he always asks about my son, Jack. He never forgets."

Ernie was the radio voice of the Tigers for four decades, telling the stories of the games as we listened from our front porch, at the beach up north or on our own ball field.

But as great as those memories are, that really isn't why he's beloved. It's because he has an innate ability to make you feel as if you are the most important person alive. Ernie's there for people like you would not believe.

Long before Dan Dickerson, the current radio voice of the Tigers, was sitting next to Ernie for his final game behind the microphone in 2002, he met Harwell at a book signing in Grand Rapids.

"We invited Ernie to our Rotisserie League banquet that night and he came!" Dickerson said. "Can you believe that?"

Tigers manager Jim Leyland recalled meeting Ernie while managing in Detroit's minor league system.

"The thing I will always remember about him was that he treated me like I'd been on the Tigers for 20 years, hitting .300," Leyland said.

I spoke with Tigers bullpen coach Jeff Jones and told him that, aside from family, Ernie is the best man I've known.

"Me, too," Jones said. "He's always so chipper, with something good to say. Ernie is a true professional and a true gentleman. He's just the best man."

Jones and Robertson had the same look in their eyes that Price had. They were holding back tears like many of us are today.

We're all going to miss him some day soon, but he doesn't want folks to be sad. And he has a point. Sad would be never having known Ernie Harwell.