Ernie Harwell: My 60 Years in Baseball (Honoring a Detroit Legend) [Paperback]

Tom Keegan (Author), Al Kaline (Foreword)

Book Description

Series: Honoring a Detroit Legend | Publication Date: April 1, 2005

Ernie Harwell, the dean of America’s baseball broadcasters, is one of the most beloved figures to have graced the sport. This authorized biography recounts his amazing career, which started at the age of 12, when he talked Babe Ruth into signing his tennis shoe. It revisits such highlights as Harwell’s broadcasts of games played by the likes of Jackie Robinson with the Dodgers, Willie Mays with the Giants, and Brooks Robinson with the Orioles, and examines his legendary status as the revered voice of the Detroit Tigers. In 54 seasons and six decades calling major league games, Harwell amassed a wonderful collection of stories to share in this fascinating celebration of one of the most respected men in baseball.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Many listeners know Ernie Harwell, the longtime Hall of Fame radio announcer for the Detroit Tigers, as one of the smoothest and wisest voices in baseball. Oddly enough, in 1991 Tiger management unceremoniously decided not to renew Harwell's contract. After great fan protest, this decision was ultimately overturned. Find out what the fuss is about in this easy-to-read tale, which should be purchased by all libraries serving Tiger fans and indeed by serious baseball collections nationwide.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Of all the words written about Bobby Jones, these few from the late New Yorker correspondent Herbert Warren Wind may be the most fitting: "Perhaps it is best simply to say there was a touch of poetry to his golf, so there was a certain, definite magic about the man himself." That poetry and that magic have been the subjects of numerous books in this seventy-first-anniversary year of Jones' fabled Grand Slam in 1930, his consecutive victories of what were then golf's four major championships: the U.S. Open and Amateur and the British Open and Amateur. Mark Frost's Grand Slam (2004) is the best of the recent volumes at telling the in-depth story of the slam itself and the toll it took on Jones, but this attractive coffee-table book offers numerous supplementary pleasures. Lewis tells Jones' story in capsule form, making good use of quotes from writers of the day, but the real joy here is the vintage photos, both of Jones in competition and with his family and friends. Essential browsing for anyone who has been touched by the Jones magic. Bill Ott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Paperback: 289 pages
• Publisher: Triumph Books (April 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1572437170
• ISBN-13: 978-1572437173
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #922,708 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #50 in Books > Travel > United States > States > Michigan

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A home run, May 8, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Ernie Harwell: My 60 Years in Baseball (Honoring a Detroit Legend) (Hardcover)

As a young boy growing up in a Detroit suburb, I often fell asleep at night with a transistor radio and an earphone, listening to Ernie Harwell and George Kell broadcasting Tigers' games. I've been a fan since. This book brought back a lot of those memories. It was well written and a fitting tribute to a man who has meant so much to the game. Well done.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Voice of Baseball, June 1, 2002

By 

Jason A. Miller (New York, New York USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ernie Harwell: My 60 Years in Baseball (Honoring a Detroit Legend) (Hardcover)

Ernie Harwell popped up in a lot of unexpected places in the year 2001. On October 3rd, he broadcast the official recreation of the 1951 Miracle at Coogan's Bluff game for Major League Baseball's official website; later on, he broadcast the final game of a World Series for an all-time-greats fantasy league also run by MLB. Not bad, for a man who was fired by his longtime Detroit Tigers employees over a decade ago for being "too old".

"My 60 Years in Baseball" has a very unusual title for an autobiography. That's because it's not an autobiography -- it's a standard bio, written by columnist Tom Keegan. Presumably this was done with Ernie Harwell's full cooperation, and reprints of several Harwell newspaper columns highlight the book. I'm just a little confused by the use of the word "My".

I know Tom Keegan's columns from the New York Post, and "My 60 Years" reads very much like a 275-page human interest story. It's a puff piece, but in the best way possible. Keegan tracks down interviews with athletes, writers and friends who have known Harwell at various points along his 60-plus-year career, and the stories related are mostly heart-warming. The best chapter in the book is an interview with Denny McLain, one-time Tiger pitching ace, from his cell in federal prison. Even repeat convicts love the voice of Ernie Harwell.

Don't read "Ernie Harwell" because it's the best sports bio of all time, but read it to become more familiar with one of the last of the original (and now "old school") announcers. I listened to Ernie for the brief time I lived in the Detroit metro area, and I'm glad I had the chance. It's a specific style of broadcast, heavy on imagery and game detail, that's no longer in vogue and will be dearly missed when the last of its practictioners hangs up their microphones. Read the stories Keegan finds, and read again the reprinted Harwell columns, which are a delight of word choice, firm opinion, and humor.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Little Light of Mine, April 20, 2002

By 

C. W. Emblom "Bill Emblom" (Ishpeming, Michigan USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Ernie Harwell: My 60 Years in Baseball (Honoring a Detroit Legend) (Hardcover)

Ernie Harwell's broadcasting career has covered an incredible amount of baseball history dating back to the days of Red Barber with the Brooklyn Dodgers, Bobby Thompson's home run on 10/3/'51, the birth of the Baltimore Orioles, and over four decades with the Detroit Tigers. Harwell came to the Tigers in 1960 as a replacement for Van Patrick who I grew up listening to as a Tigers' announcer. Author Tom Keegan begins the book with the controversial firing of Harwell and who was to blame for the fiasco. However, as Ernie says, "It doesn't matter. All that matters is everyone is forgiven." That comment is typical of the Christian Harwell. Ernie has the gift of making anyone he talks to feel as though they are important and his feelings are genuine. As Ernie says, God has blessed him with good health, and he has done what he can to take care of himself physically to show that age can be just a number. Ernie Harwell is not only a great ambassador for baseball, but also for everyone in how to treat their fellow human beings. The book is easy reading and is of value to those interested in baseball history and to those who want to meet a man we all can learn from regarding human relations.