CHANGE IS BAD :

Harwell's Small Talk Will Be Sorely Missed (William Gildea, August 18, 2002, The Washington Post)

Ernie Harwell is an American treasure. He is an inventor (a bottle-can opener, a World Series "fact wheel"). He's an actor, having appeared in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and "Paper Lion." He was a Marine in World War II. As a boy, he delivered newspapers on a route that included the home of Margaret Mitchell, who wrote "Gone with the Wind." He shot a hole-in-one, he had a racehorse named after him, he sang a duet with Pearl Bailey. He was baptized in the Jordan River. All of that is in his
1985 autobiography "Tuned to Baseball," an out-of-print gem. But he didn't tell us those parts. They were included in a delightful foreword written by his wife, Lulu. Ernie and Lulu have been married 61 years, and he believes they're going the distance. "She's getting used to me," he said.

From at least NJ to IL you can tune in Tigers games at night, and whether in the car or in your bedroom with a radio clandestinely hid beneath the covers, you can hear Ernie Harwell. Or at least you can for a few more months. Then Mr. Harwell too will be gone. Posted by Orrin Judd at August 18, 2002 8:59 AM