{"id":4869,"date":"2010-05-04T23:59:15","date_gmt":"2010-05-05T06:59:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.seamheads.com\/?p=4869"},"modified":"2010-05-04T23:59:15","modified_gmt":"2010-05-05T06:59:15","slug":"my-dinner-with-ernie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/2010\/05\/04\/my-dinner-with-ernie\/","title":{"rendered":"My Dinner With Ernie"},"content":{"rendered":"

“For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.” <\/em>I heard these words, and I knew it was time for baseball.<\/p>\n

I grew up just outside of Detroit, listening to Ernie and Paul\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6excuse me, to those outside of Detroit that would be Ernie Harwell and his partner Paul Carey. See, to Tigers fans, it was simply just Ernie and Paul.\u00c2\u00a0 Everyone knew who \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Ernie\u00e2\u20ac\u009d was. \u00c2\u00a0He called the game the right way.\u00c2\u00a0 Ernie, like many of the old-school broadcasters, wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t afraid of silence.\u00c2\u00a0 He let the crowd noise seep in.\u00c2\u00a0 I remember spending the night at my grandparents\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 house, falling asleep to the radio.\u00c2\u00a0 You could hear the crowd and the vendors in-between pitches.\u00c2\u00a0 That was the best.\u00c2\u00a0 I could listen to a game, get all of the information I needed, and yet not feel overwhelmed by the noise that is all-too-common in today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s broadcasts.\u00c2\u00a0 But I digress; this isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t about the state of announcing today, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s about my brush with the Hall of Fame broadcaster.\u00c2\u00a0 Rob Neyer said it best in his column (http:\/\/espn.go.com\/blog\/sweetspot\/post\/_\/id\/3455\/my-visit-with-ernie-harwell<\/a>):\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I’m sure that practically everyone who’s spent much time around the game has an Ernie Harwell story.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 I haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t spent that much time around the game except as a fan, but here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s my story of how a legend touched my life.<\/p>\n

In 2007, I made the decision to go to law school.\u00c2\u00a0 I had been kicking around the idea for a while; one day, I found my position at a large corporation was to be eliminated.\u00c2\u00a0 So I decided that I would do it.\u00c2\u00a0 I had a friend who encouraged me and wrote a recommendation letter.\u00c2\u00a0 He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still one of my best friends today.\u00c2\u00a0 Another friend encouraged me, and being a lawyer himself, told me what I was in for.\u00c2\u00a0 He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also still one of my best friends.\u00c2\u00a0 I needed to thank these guys in a way that was different.\u00c2\u00a0 See, I went to law school and will graduate in just over a week, with the hope and dream that I will work in baseball (to any of you reading this, if you can help me, PLEASE!!!!).\u00c2\u00a0 So I wrote a letter to Ernie.\u00c2\u00a0 My request was simple.\u00c2\u00a0 I asked if he would personalize a few baseballs for me. I explained why, and offered to pay any fee or make a donation to any charity.\u00c2\u00a0 On the advice of my mom, I asked if he would ever be interested in having dinner with a huge fan, and enclosed my phone number.\u00c2\u00a0 I never thought Ernie would call.\u00c2\u00a0 But he did.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello Mr. Waddell, Ernie Harwell here\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u009d began the voicemail.\u00c2\u00a0 He had called to tell me he had sent the baseballs back to me, and that if I wanted to have dinner, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d certainly find the time.\u00c2\u00a0 Ernie had time for me.\u00c2\u00a0 He didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know me from ANYONE, yet this man wanted to have dinner with me.\u00c2\u00a0 And he left his home phone number for me to call him.\u00c2\u00a0 I was nervous.\u00c2\u00a0 How could I call this Hall of Famer at home?\u00c2\u00a0 But I did, and his wonderful wife Lulu answered the phone.\u00c2\u00a0 I stammered, stumbled, and introduced myself and asked to speak with \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Mr. Harwell.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Ernie, telephone\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I heard.\u00c2\u00a0 Ernie got on the phone, and greeted me like an old friend.\u00c2\u00a0 And we made dinner plans.<\/p>\n

A few days later, I met Ernie at a nice restaurant near his home.\u00c2\u00a0 I was standing near the door, as the hostess looked me up and down.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Can I help you?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she asked.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153No thank you, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m just waiting for a friend\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I replied.\u00c2\u00a0 Wait, did I just say friend?\u00c2\u00a0 But Ernie doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know me.\u00c2\u00a0 And I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really know him, other than years on the radio.\u00c2\u00a0 But that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what Ernie was to Tigers fans.\u00c2\u00a0 He was a friend.\u00c2\u00a0 He was a grandfather who told you stories.\u00c2\u00a0 I nervously waited for him, not believing that I was about to have dinner with Ernie.\u00c2\u00a0 But he walked through the door, saw me and said \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Mr. Waddell I presume; Nice to meet you.\u00c2\u00a0 Ernie Harwell.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 What could I say?\u00c2\u00a0 He was introducing himself, as a polite gentleman would.\u00c2\u00a0 I responded, or at least I hope I did.\u00c2\u00a0 The hostess knew Ernie from previous visits, and quickly seated us at a nice table.\u00c2\u00a0 I started by thanking him for having dinner with me, and for signing the baseballs.\u00c2\u00a0 I gushed about how big a fan I was, and what an honor he bestowed upon me.\u00c2\u00a0 He smiled and replied \u00e2\u20ac\u0153you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re welcome.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 Our waitress arrived and asked us if we wanted any drinks.\u00c2\u00a0 Before either could answer, she blurted out \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Mr. Harwell, how nice to see you again.\u00c2\u00a0 How is Lulu?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Nice to see you again too, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not feeling well, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just a cold; she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s getting better.\u00c2\u00a0 This is my friend, Nick Waddell.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 The waitress looked and me and smiled like I was someone important; and really, I was!\u00c2\u00a0 I was having dinner with Ernie Harwell.\u00c2\u00a0 AND, he had just introduced me as his FRIEND!\u00c2\u00a0 What a true gentleman.\u00c2\u00a0 We both ordered water, and the waitress disappeared.\u00c2\u00a0 Ernie turned to me and said \u00e2\u20ac\u0153so, Nick, what is your story?\u00c2\u00a0 Where did you go to school?\u00c2\u00a0 What do you do for a living?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 I was speechless.\u00c2\u00a0 This living legend, this man who saw so many decades of baseball, had so many stories, knew so many players and managers and broadcasters, was asking about ME?\u00c2\u00a0 Little me?\u00c2\u00a0 Heck, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m bored by me, I can imagine how others would feel.\u00c2\u00a0 But this guy wanted to know about me.\u00c2\u00a0 So I told him that I had graduated two years before as a chemical engineer, but I decided I needed to work in baseball, and thought law school would open that door.\u00c2\u00a0 He said \u00e2\u20ac\u0153good for you\u00e2\u20ac\u009d about going for more schooling, and I felt it was a time for me to ask a question.\u00c2\u00a0 I asked him about how much he loved baseball, and whether his love for the game was what brought him into broadcasting or was it more of the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153right place, right time\u00e2\u20ac\u009d sort of idea.<\/p>\n

Ernie told me a story of growing up poor, how his mom would make cakes, and he would go out and sell them.\u00c2\u00a0 He told me about seeing what would now be called a speech pathologist to help him.\u00c2\u00a0 He told me firsthand about writing for The Sporting News <\/em>and how much he loved the job.\u00c2\u00a0 He even told me about being traded for a player.\u00c2\u00a0 For those of you who don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know, Ernie was a broadcaster for the Brooklyn Dodgers before Vin Scully.\u00c2\u00a0 He did some work replacing Red Barber, who was ill at the time.\u00c2\u00a0 Ernie became a Dodger broadcaster because Branch Rickey traded a catcher to the Atlanta Crackers for him.\u00c2\u00a0 I heard one of the most famous baseball stories first hand, and loved every minute of it.\u00c2\u00a0 Ernie told me his biography, and I wanted more.<\/p>\n

But then Ernie threw a curveball.\u00c2\u00a0 He asked me about me again: if I had any brothers or sisters, what they did, if I was married, etc\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00c2\u00a0 Again, I wanted to ask Ernie why the hell he cared about me when HE was the legend at the table?\u00c2\u00a0 But then it dawned on me.\u00c2\u00a0 This was Ernie. He was as true as he was on the radio.\u00c2\u00a0 He wanted to know about everyone.\u00c2\u00a0 He wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t a legend in his own eyes; he was a lucky man who got to do what he loved.<\/p>\n

I asked him a few more questions, like whether he could see the pitch clearly from the broadcast booth.\u00c2\u00a0 Ever hear an announcer say \u00e2\u20ac\u0153that slider missed outside\u00e2\u20ac\u009d?\u00c2\u00a0 I asked him if the booth was positioned in such a way that he could see the slider.\u00c2\u00a0 Ernie laughed and said \u00e2\u20ac\u0153yes sometimes\u00e2\u20ac\u009d but continued to tell me that before a game he would read up on the pitcher and knew the speeds at which a pitcher would throw.\u00c2\u00a0 So sometimes he could see the slider, but other times he would see the speed and surmise that it was a slider.\u00c2\u00a0 If he didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know, the pitch would simply be \u00e2\u20ac\u0153a ball low and outside.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 Simple enough, yet so effective.\u00c2\u00a0 By this point, our meal had come, so we we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re in-between bites of food talking back and forth about the 2007 Tigers, and how we hoped after such a terrific 2006 team (made it to the World Series!), 2007 would be even better.\u00c2\u00a0 Then, I asked Ernie the question he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s probably been asked millions of times.\u00c2\u00a0 How was it calling the 1984 World Series?\u00c2\u00a0 I was 4 when the Tigers won their last Series, and I had to know.\u00c2\u00a0 He smiled and laughed, and said what a terrific honor it was, and how great that team was.\u00c2\u00a0 This leads me to my final story.<\/p>\n

I asked Ernie what his favorite baseball story was.\u00c2\u00a0 He paused for a minute, and took a bite of asparagus.\u00c2\u00a0 He then said that this was one of his favorites.\u00c2\u00a0 It was told to him by the great Red Barber, or so I remember.\u00c2\u00a0 See, I tried so hard to remember the story exactly as Ernie told me, but alas I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t.\u00c2\u00a0 I remember the story exactly, and I remember that it involved Babe Ruth, but I want to say it also involved Red Barber but the time lines don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t match up.\u00c2\u00a0 So maybe it was Mel Allen.\u00c2\u00a0 Or maybe it was someone who told Red Barber.\u00c2\u00a0 But please, for argument, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll just say it was Red Barber.\u00c2\u00a0 Red and Babe are sharing a cab to the game when suddenly Babe tells the cab driver to stop and that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be back\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

< so here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s another Ernie interjection.\u00c2\u00a0 Another waitress came over to greet him and ask how his wife was .\u00c2\u00a0 Ernie politely responded, and again introduced me to another waitress as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153his friend.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 Inside I giggled like a schoolboy.\u00c2\u00a0 And all that was going through my head was the theme from \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Courtship of Eddie\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Father.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 You know the one\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153people let me tell you \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcbout my best friend\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 I pictured Ernie and I meeting more often and sharing stories.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d be invited for Christmas dinner\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6.but again I digress.\u00c2\u00a0 The waitress walked away, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be damned if Ernie doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t start up the story on the EXACT word he stopped on.\u00c2\u00a0 His memory at 89 was AMAZING.\u00c2\u00a0 It took me a second or two to remember what he was talking about, and I was 26 at the time.\u00c2\u00a0 He was still so sharp.\u00c2\u00a0 It makes me cringe a bit when I say that, as if all older people shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be sharp.\u00c2\u00a0 But I wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t expect anyone, let alone an 89 year old, to be sharp enough to pick up a story on the exact word they stopped on, as if there had been no interruption.\u00c2\u00a0 I was in awe\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6so back to the story><\/p>\n

in EXACTLY twenty minutes.\u00c2\u00a0 Babe gets out of the car, and goes into the building they are stopped in front of.\u00c2\u00a0 The cab driver and (in my memory) Red Barber strike up a conversation wondering where Babe went to.\u00c2\u00a0 Exactly twenty minutes later, Babe emerges, gets in the cab, and tells him to take them to the ballpark.\u00c2\u00a0 After a few moments of silence, curiosity overcomes Red and he finally asked the Babe what he was doing.\u00c2\u00a0 Turns out, Babe had a female friend in that building he was visiting; and Babe went out to hit three home runs in that game.\u00c2\u00a0 Ernie grinned and laughed at the story and I did the same.\u00c2\u00a0 Could you imagine hearing that story from Red himself?\u00c2\u00a0 It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s better only to hearing it from Ernie.\u00c2\u00a0 Now again, please don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t write me and say it couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have been Red, or Babe hit only 2 home runs that day.\u00c2\u00a0 I know, don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have exact details right, but that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the beauty of it.\u00c2\u00a0 Ernie could tell the details of the story and remember it as if it was yesterday.\u00c2\u00a0 Me?\u00c2\u00a0 It was only 3 years ago, and I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t.<\/p>\n

So that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s it, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s my brush with Ernie.\u00c2\u00a0 I paid for dinner and thanked him for the opportunity.\u00c2\u00a0 I have a baseball that was signed \u00e2\u20ac\u0153to Nick, Ernie Harwell\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that I look at quite often.\u00c2\u00a0 Two friends have the same ball, with their name.\u00c2\u00a0 For one night, I was Ernie Harwell\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s friend; with the way he interacted with fans, everyone was a friend.\u00c2\u00a0 He was genuine and true, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why we Tigers fans, baseball fans all over really, loved Ernie.\u00c2\u00a0 Ernie will be missed.\u00c2\u00a0 He was one of a kind, like all of the older broadcasters: Harry Kalas, Harry Caray, Jack Brickhouse, Jack Buck, Red Barber, and Mel Allen previously, and even Vin Scully now.\u00c2\u00a0 I cried when I learned of Ernie\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s death, and I think all Tigers fans did.\u00c2\u00a0 I consider myself lucky for having been able to hear our voice, our legend, and for getting a glimpse behind the curtain and seeing that that down-to-earth man on the radio was the same in person.\u00c2\u00a0 He truly was one of the world\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s great people.\u00c2\u00a0 The next time you hear or see a home run, think of Ernie\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153loooooong gone\u00e2\u20ac\u009d call.\u00c2\u00a0 Or the next time a batter looks at strike three, think of the batter \u00e2\u20ac\u0153standing there like a house by the side of the road.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s how Ernie would have called it.<\/p>\n

Thanks for indulging me and allowing me to share my story with you.<\/p>\n

Nick is currently a 3rd year law student in Chicago, and a student member of the Sports Lawyers Association. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been a baseball fan since age three, and avidly follows his Detroit Tigers no matter where he is. Nick\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hoping to work his way into baseball after law school. He wrote a biography on Al Kaline for the SABR book “Sock It To \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcEm Tigers” and has been a member of SABR since 2006.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.” I heard these words, and I knew it was time for baseball. I grew up just outside […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":709,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[6994,4453,6051,6991,6914,1371,2440,21230,6995,3068,6989,6992,344,6993,2570,6997,1108,6988,6996,6990],"class_list":["post-4869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-broadcaster","tag-broadcasters","tag-broadcasts","tag-crowd-noise","tag-ernie-harwell","tag-espn","tag-grandparents","tag-hall-of-fame","tag-law-school","tag-old-school","tag-one-of-my-best-friends","tag-partner-paul","tag-pitches","tag-recommendation-letter","tag-rob-neyer","tag-silence","tag-tigers","tag-time-of-the-singing-of-birds","tag-turtle","tag-voice-of-the-turtle"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/709"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4869\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}