As a relatively young baseball fan, I can’t say I truly appreciate the names from the 1950s, ‘60s, and ‘70s in the way I should. Honestly, that bothers me.
As I become more and more entrenched in historical research – names, stats, and anecdotes – I am starting to catch glimpses of what I’m missing. And now I’m angry.
Over the last few I have created a nice little ‘bucket list’ regarding the people and public figures I feel I need to meet in order to live a life that I can truly be proud of. I want to be able to say that I utilized at least some of the premium resources around me while I had the chance.
Monday, that list took another hit.
Since graduating from college, the first time, and realizing that historical research is likely going to become my pathway to both insanity and nirvana, three of the names on my list have left this world.
The tragedy of Monday’s loss is on par with the others. Ernie Harwell, one of the great ambassadors of the game, died of cancer. He lived a long life – 92 years. And he saw so many great events that baseball historians and fans burn with envy at what he’s seen.
Ernie Harwell issues his farewell address last season at Comerica Park. Photo: SI.com
ESPN’s coverage of Harwell’s passing made extensive note of the fact that Harwell was part of the first nationally televised baseball game. That game just so happened to feature Bobby Thompson’s “Shot Heard ‘Round the World” – a 1951 pennant-clinching walk-off home run over the left field wall in the Polo Grounds.
The same coverage made note of the fact that Harwell only missed two days of work in his 55 years of broadcasting – one of those was the day he was inducted into the Hall of Fame. He has seen everything the Detroit Tigers have done since 1960.
He covered pitchers with 30 win seasons, the Tigers beating a pitcher with a 1.12 season ERA in the World Series, and every pitch of Al Kaline’s career. He announced Jackie Robinsons name in starting line-ups – not to mention dozens of other Hall of Famers. He worked the broadcast for the Giants in Willie Mays’ rookie season and their 1954 World Series season…
Just a week or so ago the Tigers were aired on a national broadcast and Rick Sutcliffe told the story of how NHL Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky came up into the booth during a ball game once and how he was in complete awe of Ernie Harwell; the voice that he listened to as a kid in Ontario. ‘The Great One’ had chills.
Harwell was an icon, a king amongst men, a great person, a great baseball fan, and someone I will forever regret not shaking hands with and thanking for his ability to make people smile for so many years.
Other Regrets on the List:
In 2005 I graduated from Northern Illinois University and was clueless of what my next step would be. I had a BA in History and a couple years experience as a dormitory babysitter, an editorial cartoonist, and breakfast restaurant busboy. I wish I had known that little more than a year later Buck O’Neil was going to pass away.
Rather than enrolling back into school and working toward teacher’s certification, I would have driven down to Kansas City and camped outside the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum until I was able to shake the hand of Satchel Paige’s personal friend and the first African American coach in Major League Baseball.
Buck O'Neil poses with his statue at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City. Photo: Foxnews.com
You always think the greats are going to live forever.
John “Buck” O’Neil was ballplayer for the Negro Leagues’ Kansas City Monarchs and a coach for the Chicago Cubs in the Major Leagues. He, like Ernie Harwell, was an amazing ambassador for the game of baseball. He met fans and shook hands at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and gave interviews for documentaries and books all because he was probably going to be talking about baseball anyway. His smile was contagious.
The other member of my big three tear-jerkers was the passing of Studs Terkel. Basically the master of contemporary oral histories, Terkel was not only a beloved and vibrant Chicago character but he was also a baseball junkie.
I have always loved reading his books. In the summer after I graduated college I read the same Terkel book three times – his first book “Division Street.”
It was the perfect escape from the monotony of summer life in an empty college town and so descriptive that on some occasions I felt like I was actually living in the body of some of the books characters – like an episode of Quantum Leap or something.
I always felt that in meeting Studs Terkel I could have learned some of his secrets about conducting the perfect interview or maybe just talked baseball with a literary, humanitarian, and Chicago icon.
But unfortunately I never saw that chance. For the last couple years of his life, Terkel was constantly suffering from different age-related health problems. And on Halloween of 2008 he was gone.
Closing:
All three of these people lived into their nineties. I’m nearing thirty years-old now. The chances were there.
There will never be another Harwell, Buck O’Neil, or Terkel, but there are people out there who can change your life with just one hand shake or one quick conversation. I have a whole list of names like that.
I feel that I’d better get my act together soon before the chance to meet more of baseball and/ or the world’s greatest people escapes me. In all honesty It’s about thanking them as much as it’s about anything selfish. I read their words, study their interviews, or hear their voice all the time and every experience makes me better/ brighter.
Who is on your list? Are you going to regret not talking to those people when that option passes you?
I know I have to get my act together, but for right now though, I’m just going to sit there like the house on the side of the road and pay my respects to the life and contributions of Ernie Harwell.
NateWorthy Notes:
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Here are some links to sites were you can get more info on these individuals.
– Ernie Harwell –
– Buck O’ Neil –
– Studs Terkel – more on Terkel
