Ernie Harwell is ailing

[Smasher_Sloan]

It says here:

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

 

[Hank_Scorpio]

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.

 

[playthrough]

Great guy first, then a legend. Tigers games haven't been the same since. Hopefully he will be arou

(sorry, wanted to say more but Jeanne Zelasko cut me off)

 

[Hank_Scorpio]

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.

 

[UPChip]

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.

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.

 

[X-Hack]

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.

 

[slappy4428]

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

 

[YGBFKM]

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

 

[buckweaver]

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

Man oh man. What a blow.

 

[BYH]

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.

 

[imjustagirl]

Dammit.

 

[buckweaver]

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.

 

[steveu]

This is one day, when it comes, where I will be openly weeping.

Like Florida once said on a Good Times episode, "Damn... damn... damn."

 

[Smasher_Sloan]

Ernie is a remarkable guy.

 

[YGBFKM]

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

Man oh man. What a blow.

Not sure what that means. Not like he caught a break dying at 45.

 

[buckweaver]

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

Man oh man. What a blow.

Not sure what that means. Not like he caught a break dying at 45.

That means, at least Ernie's lived a full life. Cancer's a *****, always, but I tend to think it's a lot easier to accept when you're 91.

 

[YGBFKM]

Got ya.

 

[mustangj17]

Harwell wrote an awesome article last year about weird trades, I hope I live to 90, or can write like he did when he was 90.

 

[UPChip]

Harwell wrote an awesome article last year about weird trades, I hope I live to 90, or can write like he did when he was 90.

First-person, considering he was traded to the Dodgers for a catcher.

Ernie's a personal and professional hero of mine and motivation that you can succeed in this business and still be a nice guy. The day I see his obit, I will immediately drop everything and put together a tribute column, that is, if I can clear the lump out of my throat first.

 

[mustangj17]

I just realized nobody woke up to read this in the paper this morning because the Freep/News isn't delivered on Friday.