{"id":2271,"date":"2017-04-07T00:00:03","date_gmt":"2017-04-07T04:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/mission-and-identity\/?p=2271"},"modified":"2019-09-18T16:47:08","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T20:47:08","slug":"april-7-opening-day-at-the-ball-park-ernie-harwell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2017\/04\/07\/april-7-opening-day-at-the-ball-park-ernie-harwell\/","title":{"rendered":"April 7 &#8211; opening day at the Ball Park &amp;\tErnie Harwell"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>April 6 \u2013 Easter Monday and Opening Day at the Ball Park<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Opening Day in Motown = Ernie Harwell and The Song of Solomon.<br \/>\nCan\u2019t say how good it feels to listen to Ernie Harwell. \u00a0Here he is on a YouTube clip and in print from The Song of Solomon. \u00a0Below that are Dan Holmes\u2019 candidates for Ernie H\u2019s 10 best catch phrases, concluding at # 10 with my favorite, \u00a0\u201che just stood there like the house on the side of the road and watched that one go by.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Go Tigers!<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gr0wonW9u1A?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>john sj<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>For, lo, the winter is past,<br \/>\nThe rain is over and gone;<br \/>\nThe flowers appear on the earth;<br \/>\nThe time of the singing of birds is come,<br \/>\nAnd the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.<\/p>\n<p>Song of Solomon<br \/>\nRead on Tigers Opening Day for decades by Ernie Harwell<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/170\/2014\/03\/Ernie_Harwell.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-437\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/170\/2014\/03\/Ernie_Harwell.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"220\" height=\"305\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/170\/2014\/03\/Ernie_Harwell.jpg 220w, https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/170\/2014\/03\/Ernie_Harwell-216x300.jpg 216w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 220px) 100vw, 220px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>(January 25, 1918 \u2013 May 4, 2010)<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Ernie, lots of us miss you. \u00a0jstsj<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.detroitathletic.com\/blog\/2016\/06\/08\/ernie-harwells-top-catch-phrases\/\">Ernie Harwell\u2019s ten most famous catch phrases<\/a><br \/>\nBY\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.detroitathletic.com\/blog\/author\/dan-holmes\/\">DAN HOLMES<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2013\u00a0JUNE 8, 2016<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/170\/2017\/04\/Ernie-Harwell.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2273\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/170\/2017\/04\/Ernie-Harwell.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/170\/2017\/04\/Ernie-Harwell.jpg 640w, https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/170\/2017\/04\/Ernie-Harwell-300x188.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>The popular Ernie Harwell was heard\u00a0on the radio for sixty years, from 1943 to 2002. He spent 43 seasons as the voice of the Detroit Tigers.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>For more than four decades Ernie Harwell was the man responsible for telling Tiger fans the good (or the bad) news. The Georgia-native was the play-by-play man on radio for the team from 1960 to 1991, and again for a decade from 1993 until his retirement at the age of 84 in 2002.<\/p>\n<p>During his tenure in the broadcast booth, Harwell endeared himself to Tiger fans across Michigan with his rich, baritone voice, his simple\u00a0broadcast style, and his heartwarming catch phrases. Many of his calls are the most famous in Detroit sports history. Who can forget \u201cListen to the bedlam at Tiger Stadium!!!\u201d in 1984 when the Tigers won Game Five of the World Series to capture the World Series title. Or \u201cThere\u2019s a base hit! \u2026 Kaline scores! \u2026 And McLain has his thirtieth win!\u201d in 1968.<\/p>\n<p>But while great calls\u00a0like those are keystones to great moments and magical seasons with Ernie behind the microphone, there were also catch phrases that Harwell used year-in and year-out. Those phrases became a familiar trademark to a Harwell game and a Tiger broadcast.<\/p>\n<p>I put together a list of my favorites. This list probably\u00a0contains\u00a0the most famous and popular Harwell catch phrases during his storied career.<\/p>\n<h2>#10. \u201cNothing across\u2026\u201d<\/h2>\n<p>This was a housekeeping phrase, it told the listener in shorthand that the team at bat had \u201cno runs, no hits, no errors\u201d from their action at the plate in the inning. Harwell would describe the final out and then say, \u201cNothing across for the Brewers in the third\u2026 Tigers still lead, 3-1.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I always thought this was a standard baseball term, but I have listened for it since Harwell\u2019s days and no other announcer (that I\u2019ve heard) does this.<\/p>\n<h2>#9. \u201cHe kicks and deals\u2026\u201d<\/h2>\n<p>I must have heard this phrase tens of thousands of times. It\u2019s a Harwell description of the pitcher kicking his leg up and delivering the pitch and it served perfectly to start the action of the next pitch and play. A classic phrase that was pure Harwell.<\/p>\n<h2>#8. \u201cThe Tigers are looking for some instant runs.\u201d<\/h2>\n<p>When the Tigers were trailing late or by a lot, Ernie would use this one. He might also use it for the opposing team, as in \u201cThe Yankees will need some instant runs here to get back into this ballgame\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>#7. \u201cThat\u2019s a strike! Mr. Kaiser said so.\u201d<\/h2>\n<p>I remember this one vividly because it made me realize as a boy that umpires were real people. The premise goes like this: a pitch is called a strike and Ernie calls it, then he uses the ump\u2019s name to add some emphasis. Kaiser was Ken Kaiser, a longtime American League umpire. It could have been Ron Luciano, or Don Denkinger, and so on. All umpires were always \u201cMr.\u201d and Ernie would often sprinkle in their hometown too. \u201cThe gentleman from Nyack, New York [Marty Springstead] is calling balls and strikes this afternoon\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>#6. \u201cOne more out and it\u2019ll be a Tiger victory.\u201d<\/h2>\n<p>Ernie wasn\u2019t much for jinxes. He didn\u2019t believe that anything he said in the booth could impact the outcome on the field, and he\u2019d gladly tell us how many outs we needed for a Detroit win. Or even a no-hitter. In 1984 when Jack Morris fired a no-hitter against the White Sox, Ernie drew criticism\u00a0from some when he regularly used the phrase \u201cno-hitter\u201d late in the game and even counted down the outs. Baseball tradition states that the term \u201cno-hitter\u201d shouldn\u2019t be used while a pitcher is pitching one, For Ernie, it was more important to describe the action and be accurate than to adhere to superstition.<\/p>\n<h2>#5. \u201cIt\u2019s LOOOOOOONG GONE!\u201d<\/h2>\n<p>This was Ernie\u2019s signature home run call. Harwell probably most famously used this call in 1968 during the World Series when Jim Northrup hit a grand slam in Game Six against the Cardinals.<\/p>\n<h2>#4. \u201cHe\u2019s out for excessive window shopping.\u201d<\/h2>\n<p>Harwell seemed to have an endless string of phrases on the tip of his tongue. This one was used when a batter looked at a called third strike. It was a little more common than his other famous \u201ccalled strike\u201d call.<\/p>\n<h2>#3. \u201cIt\u2019s two for the price of one.\u201d<\/h2>\n<p>Ernie used this one when a double play was turned, and it\u2019s a perfect phrase for what has happened. How many times did Harwell use this one while Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker were teamed in the middle of the infield for the Tigers? Possibly as many as\u00a01,300 times \u2014 that\u2019s how many double plays the duo turned for Detroit.<\/p>\n<p>This one was frequently preceded by \u201cbounding ball\u201d which was what Ernie called a groundball to the infield.<\/p>\n<h2>#2. \u201cA man from\u00a0Hamtramck\u00a0will go\u00a0home with that one.\u201d<\/h2>\n<p>Most fans will pick this phrase as their favorite. The city of \u201cHamtramck\u201d in this phrase could be replaced with any Michigan town. Ernie used it occasionally (maybe every few games, not every game) when a ball was hit\u00a0into the stands. We were supposed to believe that Ernie knew what town the fan was from (the fan who got the foul ball.) Of course he didn\u2019t, but we were delighted to hear him mention a Michigan city, town, or village. Harwell must have had an atlas, or he studied the U.S. map, because he would also use this phrase in road games, as he did during a broadcast of a game when Detroit was visiting the Mariners in Seattle: \u201cA man from Walla Walla will take that one home\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>#1. \u201cHe stood there like the house by the side of the road and watched that one go by.\u201d<\/h2>\n<p>As a boy, Ernie Harwell had a speech impediment. To help him become a better speaker, his teachers had him recite poetry and read aloud. As a result, young Ernie Harwell became an avid reader and lover of poetry. One of his favorite poems was \u201cHouse By the Side of the Road\u201d by Sam Walter Foss, written in 1898. Shortly after his broadcast career began in the 1940s, Ernie used that phrase to describe a batter who took a called third strike. It usually went like this:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cStriiike three\u2026 Mattingly is out\u2026 He stood there like the house by the side of the road and watched that one go by\u2026\u201d Ernie\u2019s inflection on this (emphasis on \u201cHe stood there\u201d) was wonderful.<\/p>\n<p>Did I miss your favorite? Tell me your memories of Ernie and his famous catch phrases below in the comments section. Here\u2019s a clip with a few of the phrases I mention above.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>April 6 \u2013 Easter Monday and Opening Day at the Ball Park Opening Day in Motown = Ernie Harwell and The Song of Solomon. Can\u2019t say how good it feels to listen to Ernie Harwell. \u00a0Here he is on a &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2017\/04\/07\/april-7-opening-day-at-the-ball-park-ernie-harwell\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11641],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2271"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2271"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2271\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2275,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2271\/revisions\/2275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}