RIP Merle Harmon

me too, guys-- several hundred miles south at Willowbrook Mall in Houston, TX. when I was a kid, I used to think those stores with all the random team apparel were the coolest thing ever. now I see one and wonder how any of them ever stayed in business.

RIP.

 

Long live the Mayfair Bazaar!

I once stepped in one of the creeks they had flowing through Mayfair whilst trying to leap over it. My buddies and I would hit the McDonald's overlooking the ice rink, buy a cheeseburger, and feed it to the ginormous goldfish that were in the "creek".

The 31 (or 21) bus was my conduit to all kinds of Mayfair fun.

Mayfair ruined itself when it renovated into another faceless suburban mall. It rocked the shit with the ice rink, creeks, observation tower, bazaar, etc.

 

It's a bit better now since they've given it a "town center" feel ... doesn't really looking like a mall from the exterior. But the atmosphere has gone to shit ever since they put in the huge movie theater, drawing all kinds of characters.

 

Actually, I wasn't, but it turned out to just be a brain fart. A senior moment.

 

I thought it said RIP Merle Norman.

Carry on.

 

Uecker visited the television booth for an inning tonight and told a story about Harmon.

When Uecker started out, he was a color guy, but they'd make him do play-by-play for an inning. He had never done that before, so he would spend the inning chatting to Harmon and Tom Collins, who hung around the booth.

I think he said it was at Yankee Stadium, but suddenly Harmon and Collins got up and walked out, and Uecker hit the cough button, begging Harmon and Collins to come back so he had someone to 'talk to'... An out had been made before the producer convinced Uecker to say something.

It's funny to think of a time when Uecker was nervous behind the mic...

The fun they used to have in that booth. Simpler times...

 

Bought my first jersey -- a 1988-era Red Sox road Clemens -- at a Merle Harmon's many, many moons ago. Still have it in my closet and it still looks good.

RIP, indeed.

 

That's where I recognized that name from.

 

Also the voice of the World Football League for TVS.

 

Too bad.

I feel like so many voices from my childhood, and the ones i went back to study as i got older are dying off faster than I can pass them on to anyone.

 

I remember Merle and Alex Hawkins being the WFL broadcast team. The Hawk was an idiot, but Merle made it a decent broadcast, which is more than a league that moved its New York franchise to Shreveport in the middle of the season deserved.

And what did Harmon and Dave Diles team up in?

 

Yeah, Merle Harmon's Fan Fare... brings back memories.

You know, I wonder how a guy like Harmon would fare in broadcasting today, where the Joe Bucks of the world are at least as much entertainers as journalists?