"DSH" Is for "Detroit Sports History"...and this cache is a tribute
to one of the Legendary Sports Broadcasters of our great city:
Ernie Harwell.
His influence, persona, love of baseball, and many, many quotes, will live on in this city forever.
He is very much a part of Detroit...and what makes this city what it is.
Ernie Harwell, Detroit Tigers' Broadcaster
January 25, 1918 – May 4, 2010
Ernie, you are...and will be missed.
Ernie Harwell was a broadcaster primarily for the Detroit Tigers. He began his career with the Atlanta Crackers in 1940.
Harwell worked for the Atlanta Crackers for six seasons, with three years off during the War, before he was promoted to the big leagues. In 1948, Branch Rickey called the Atlanta club to get their announcer. Red Barber took ill and they needed someone to fill in for the Ol' Redhead. Atlanta's ownership said they wanted catcher Cliff Dapper for Harwell. Rickey agreed and Harwell was traded to Brooklyn.
Dapper and Harwell never met until Harwell was retiring after many years in Detroit. Dapper came to Detroit to present Harwell with a videotape of tributes from baseball luminaries.
Harwell stayed in Brooklyn for two years before moving to the Giants for four seasons (1950-53). During this time, he called the Shot Heard 'Round the World on television. His call is lost to history as Russ Hodges' radio call endures.
When the St. Louis Browns moved to Baltimore, Ernie joined the club. He called games with another fellow Ford Frick Award winner, Chuck Thompson.
Ernie, calling a Tigers game, 1966
In 1960, Harwell replaced Van Patrick in Detroit. Paired over the years with George Kell, Ray Lane, and finally Paul Carey, Harwell was the Tigers broadcaster for the next 31 years before he was unceremoniously fired. It was announced that Harwell would not be re-signed after 1991. There was a great uproar in Detroit. After a 1992 season without Harwell (other than a weekly national broadcast on CBS Radio), he returned to the airwaves for ten more seasons of Tigers baseball, .
Ernie Harwell retired in 2002. Harwell maintained a low profile throughout the next few years, making notable appearances on nationally televised games such as the 2005 Major League Baseball All-Star Game at Comerica Park. In 2007, he became a major player in the ill-fated attempt by the Tiger Stadium Conservancy to preserve the former home of the Tigers; his promise to put portions of his extensive collection of baseball memorabilia on permanent display in a museum constructed in the original (1912) structure were not enough to overcome the Conservancy's lack of funding, and he withdrew to the background before the preservation effort failed and the ballpark razed.
Through an article in the Detroit Free Press published on September 3, 2009, Ernie Harwell publicly announced that he had been diagnosed with cancer in an area of the bile duct, that it was incurable, and that he would not undergo surgery, chemotherapy or other treatment, saying "It could be a year, it could be much less than a year, much less than a half a year. Who knows? Whatever's in store, I'm ready for a new adventure."
Harwell's Tiger broadcasts were best known for his anecdotes, knowledge of the history of the game, and his catch phrases. Batters called out on strikes "stood there like the house by the side of the road", a home run was "Long gone!", and foul balls were "taken home by a man from Sterling Heights", or other Metro Detroit or Michigan locale. Not until he was retired for several years did he admit that he didn't know where the person was actually from.
Ernie Harwell's statue at nearby Comerica Park
Ernie Harwell was honored with the Ford Frick Award in 1981. He is also a member of the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame, the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame, and the Radio Hall of Fame. Harwell died in 2010 the day before he was supposed to receive the Vin Scully Lifetime Achievement Award in Sports Broadcasting.
In my opinion, Ernie Harwell was, and always will be, the radio voice of the Detroit Tigers Baseball Team. Many summer days and nights where Ernie was calling the Play-by-Play for the Tigers' will forever be remembered by many as the "way things were in the summer in Detroit".
Ernie's passing was mourned by many... he was known as a gentle man and humanitarian. Ernie, you will be, and are missed by all of us who held a transistor radio in our hands until sometimes "the wee hours of the night" listening to your late-night calls of the games.
Top Ten Ernie Harwell catch-phrases are:
10. "They're having a confab on the mound."
9. "The Tigers are looking for some instant runs."
8. "The bases are loaded with Tigers."
7. "The time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land."
6. "It's two for the price of one."
5. "The corner of Michigan and Trumbull."
4. "He's out for excessive window shopping."
3. "That one was caught by a fan from (insert Michigan city)."
2. "He stood there like the house by the side of the road."
1. "That ball is looooong gone." (which is why i gave the cache this name).
This cache, if it were to be hit by a baseball, would've been called as "LOOOOONNNNNGG GONE" by Ernie, since this is just over the Center Outfield fence of Comerica Park.
The DIFFICULTY for this cache will be higher on days that there is a game at Comerica or other events in the area.
Please keep this in mind and use stealth as much as possible. :)
Be Aware of your surroundings...
Beware of the Muggles...
and most of all, ENJOY THE HUNT! :)