Ernie Harwell: My 60 Years in Baseball

by Tom Keegan, Al Kaline (Foreword), Brooks Robinson (Afterword)

For many fans, their lifetime of experience with the Detroit Tigers ensured them that when their team roared, it would be Ernie Harwell's smooth southern voice that would be heard above the din. After 42 years as the "Voice of the Detroit Tigers," the 2002 retirement of Harwell signaled the end of an era. This profile on the famed broadcaster provides the lesser-known details on the background of a Detroit institution. Known for his voice and talent for calling games, fans will be able to know the man himself and what brought him to—and kept him in—the Motor City. The only play-by-play broadcaster to cover games across seven decades, Harwell saw (and accumulated accompanying stories about) everyone from Babe Ruth to Ichiro Suzuki, many of which are shared in this entertaining biography.

Genres: Baseball, Sports, Nonfiction, Biography, History

272 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[David Barnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love this man

[Karol · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was a little disjointed, but it did have a lot of interesting stories about Ernie Harwell and various major league baseball players. Plus of course the world series winning Detroit Tigers teams of 1968 and 1984. Overall, I enjoyed it!

[Pamela Montano · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ernie Harwell was the voice of the Dodgers, Giants, Orioles and the Tigers. I was a fan from MD so I could only get Tigers games on the radio. Ernie was the voice of the Tigers for 54 season and six decades. He was the voice you wanted to hear. We all miss him and remember him fondly.

[Anup Sinha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Ernie Harwell and I think Tom Keegan did him justice in this biography. Harwell wrote several books himself but this was the first one about his life, per se. It shed much light on his career as well as his remarkable character.

Strongly recommended for Ernie fans!

[Joseph Fountain · Rating 4 out of 5]

My review of: Ernie Harwell: My 60 Years in Baseball

[Tom Gase · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book on the legendary Detroit Tigers announcer Ernie Harwell, one of the greatest voices of all time. Harwell also announced games for the Dodgers, Giants and Orioles in his career. There are a lot of good stories in this book, but wish there was more on the 1968 and 1984 Tiger teams. There is a lot on how he was originally let go after the 1991 season which caused an outrage among Tiger fans and eventually saw him return to the booth. Good stuff and a must for Tiger fans.

[Terry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ernie Harwell was THE Detroit Tigers to me. I listened to him as a kid starting in 1962 until he retired in 2002. Keegan’s book about his life was a great way to learn about this man who gave so much to baseball and to everyone he met. I thoroughly enjoyed the read.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read about Harwell's baseball life and how he was so respected. His voice IS baseball.

[Mark Loose · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Great and wonderful man was Ernie Harwell. The book had amusing stories but jumped around too much.

[Richard Raup · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book because it brought back memories of my childhood growing up in Birmingham, Michigan listening to Ernie Harwell broadcasting Detroit Tigers baseball games.

[Mark Richardson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty decent biography, using a little of Harwell's own words. No real depth, but an OK account of Harwell's life and career.

[Scott Breslove · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting baseball book on an interesting baseball personality, but it just felt too disjointed to be called great. First off, it had those little one to two page "excerpts" slammed into the middle of chapters, which I hate! At the end of a chapter, not a huge fan but I can deal, smack dab in the middle really bothers me. Also, in the later chapters it feels as if you are reading chapters consisting of different interviews, although it isn't written that way. That also disrupts the flow of the book and makes it feel disjointed. Finally, a lot of pages are devoted to the vitriol felt after Mr. Harwell was unceremoniously fired from his broadcasting gig and the fans reaction to that. But not a lot of ink was spent detailing his return to the booth and the subsequent reaction. I think if you devote time to one, you need to balance it out with the other.
All in all it was a good baseball book, making Mr. Harwell out to be a saint of a person, which he very well could be. I just thought the book could have been done better.

[Aaron Million · Rating 4 out of 5]

This gets 4 stars because I grew up a Tigers fan in Michigan and enjoyed listening to Ernie and also Paul Carey on the radio. Harwell saw a lot of great players, teams, and moments throughout his career, and was an incredibly humble man. Really someone to be admired in how he treated everyone with the utmost courtesy. Truly one of those people that did not really have a bad thing to say about anyone.