RIP Ernie Harwell

I'm not sure that having an open casket in a ballpark is the right thing to do, either. At least the casket's on the concourse - not on the field. It's sunny and in the mid-60s in the Detroit area today.

If it were up to me, the casket would be closed, but the visitation would still be at CoPa.

 

KJIM, I'm not grossed out by it because I'm used to seeing that at funerals, particularly in the black community.

The mindset is they want one more photo, one more chance to have the picture of someone they know before the casket is closed for good. I haven't seen any live shots or pictures of the procession yet. But the one thing that irks me is the person who comes up to the casket and creates a scene by falling out on the floor, screaming their lungs out wanting them (the deceased) to come back.

Personally I don't like it, but I can't tell someone how to remember the recently deceased.

 

My wife's dad was killed in a motorcycle accident in 1986. This was in Cape Town, but he was Portuguese. She says the Portuguese are great wailers and obviously this was an especially tragic funeral. But at the cemetery, his mom leaped down into the hole and onto the casket after it'd been lowered and started pounding on it, screaming.

 

I think it was Ernie's idea. They mentioned in the Freep that he sat down with Ilitch and Dombrowski months ago and they discussed the arrangements.

 

Steve Simmons with a column on the state of baseball on the radio today. I am a couple of years older than Dan Shulman but I can certainly relate to what he is talking about from a Jays fanboi looser perspective.

http://www.torontosun.com/sports/columnists/steve_simmons/2010/05/05/13840631.html

 

RIP to a great man. Been out of town with little Internet access, so couldn't post until now.

But the news just hits you hard, even though you knew it was coming. I usually don't get too choked up over a celebrity's death, but Ernie was much more than just a celebrity, especially since I had the honor of meeting him more than once.

Many, many memories of him from Tiger Stadium and Comerica.

RIP Ernie, you will be missed. And all the best to Lulu.





Ernie made a CD scrapbook a few years ago.
Here's the Amazon link:
http://www.amazon.com/Ernie-Harwells-Audio-Scrapbook-Set/dp/B002J4MPP8


You can also get copies of his books at the Freep. He has about four of his newspaper columns and about three of his stories in baseball.