Ernie Harwell is ailing

It says here:

http://www.freep.com/article/20090816/SPORTS02/908160563/1050/NLETTER03/Harwell-resting-after-release-from-hospital?source=nletter-sports

 

For a man his age, he gets around a lot around town with different things he does.

Hopefully it's not too serious. Get well soon.

 

Agreed, play. It is nice to still be able to hear his voice on the couple of commercials he does.

Quick story: went to Tiger Stadium as a kid and was milling around the dugout before the game. Some fan gave Ernie a box of homemade chocolates. And he opened it up and started handing it out to the people around the dugout.

 

My folks attended one of the Blue Cross walking meet-and-greets he does and said they could barely keep up with him walking about town.

 

The season after the disgraceful Monaghan/Schembechler regime gave him his walking papers, he came back to do a radio game-of-the-week telecast. As my friend and I were pulling onto the freeway after the game, we saw another car trying to get in. It was Ernie in his beret. I waved him in. He waved and shouted "Thank you." I shouted back, "No, thank YOU!"

Class act his whole life. I hope he recovers quickly.

 

It's cancer and it's incurable....


Not even cancer diagnosis can shake Harwell's spirit
Legendary Tigers broadcaster reflects on career, looks to future with resolve

BY BILL McGRAW
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

His voice was clear, his spirit strong, his words tinged with humor.

But legendary broadcaster Ernie Harwell had bracing news to deliver Thursday: He has a tumor in the area of the bile duct. It is incurable. Yet Harwell said he feels calm and prepared for what comes next.

"We don't know how long this lasts," Harwell said in a phone interview. "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. That's the way I look at it."

Harwell, who gained an enormous following during 55 years as a major league baseball broadcaster -- 42 of them with the Tigers -- spent about a week in the hospital in mid-August with an obstructed bile duct, and tests revealed the tumor.

He is 91. Harwell, his family and doctors have decided against surgery or other treatment.

http://www.freep.com/article/20090903/NEWS05/309030002/1318/Not-even-cancer-diagnosis-can-shake-Harwell-s-spirit

 

Isn't that the same condition that killed Walter Payton?

 

That's right. Sweetness wasn't 91, though.

Man oh man. What a blow.

 

There aren't many left like him. It sounds like he is at peace, but it'll be a sad day in the pastime when he passes.

 

Dammit.

 

Yep. He's lived a damn full life, and seems to be OK with his fate -- which I'm glad to see -- but it sure will be sad for the rest of us. What a guy.