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This is RetroSports Radio.

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Visit RetroSeasons.com for more sports history.

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Here's the set.

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Here's the pitch.

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He swings us along once.

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It is long gone.

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A home run.

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Not all broadcasters, sportscasters,

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have a signature call.

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Some do.

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You do.

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I do.

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But not everybody.

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You didn't start out to have a signature call, did you?

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No, I just started out doing the game.

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And whatever the signature two calls that developed for me

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just sort of happened.

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I think probably the first one I came up with was,

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he stood there like the house by the side of the road

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and watched it go by when a guy took a call third strike.

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There's a breaking ball in for a strike.

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And he stood there like the house by the side of the road

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and watched it go by.

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Struck him up.

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That's the third strikeout for holiday.

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Long gone was my so-called home run call.

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But I really didn't do that until the late 80s or the mid-80s.

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I didn't do it in 84.

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And somehow I just began to say, it's going.

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It's a long one.

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It's gone.

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It's long gone.

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And then I cut it back to long gone.

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And then people sort of asked me to keep doing it.

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So I did.

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Right hander against the right hander.

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The outfield is straight up in deep on Fielder.

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He is the DH today.

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Swing, there's a drive to left.

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That one is long gone.

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Fielder weighs into that first pitch

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with his 29th home run of the year.

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Learning another one of your signature calls

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is on your call for a double play.

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Two for the price of one.

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Where'd you start that from?

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You know, I don't know when that started,

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or where it came from.

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Maybe it was inspired by Lulu's shopping philosophy.

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Set the pitch.

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He swings, bounding ball, stopped by Truby

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for the second one, really the first.

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Two for the price of one for the Tigers.

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A great play by Truby to end the third inning.

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The foul ball, caught by a man from Saginaw.

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Yeah, that's another one of those accidents.

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I never did that in any other place.

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I didn't do it in Brooklyn or New York or Baltimore.

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But when I got to Detroit, I guess about the first year or so,

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maybe in 60 or 61, somebody hit a foul ball.

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I said to my partner, that guy that caught that ball

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is from Saginaw, I said.

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And then he just sort of caught on.

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And I'd walk through the ballpark,

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and somebody would say, hey, let a guy from Gross Point

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catch one today.

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Or somebody would say, hey, a lady from Windsor

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never has caught one.

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Why don't you let a lady from Windsor

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catch a foul ball tonight?

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So that's what we did.

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And then when we went on the road,

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we would know some outlying cities,

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like New Rochelle in New York or Tunifly, New Jersey.

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A guy from Tunifly would catch it.

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If you were in Chicago, a fellow from Evanston

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might have caught that one, that kind of thing.

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It was a lot of fun.

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We enjoyed that.

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Infield in double play depth for the Mariners.

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They've had a lot of ground balls so far today.

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Here's the pitch on the way.

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He swings and fouls it off.

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It'll reach the seats over back of the Tiger dugout.

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And the man from Walla Walla will take that one home.

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Did you ever let a lady from Kentucky catch one?

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No, Lulu had to stay home and take care of the kids.

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From the greatest managers, players, broadcasters,

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and team, we're going to shift now

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to your most embarrassing moment.

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What was the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to you

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while you were either on the air or in the booth?

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I had a lot of embarrassing moments in my career,

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but I think the one that was most embarrassing

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happened in California.

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The Tigers were playing the California Angels,

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and Collins was at third base.

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Freehand's a catcher, and Collins steals home.

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He's called safe on a very close play at the plate.

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There's an argument ensues.

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Ralph Halk comes out of the dugout,

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and I says, here comes Halk out.

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He's arguing with the umpire, and Bill Freehand at the plate,

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and he's beating his mitt at home plate.

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So luckily for me, it happened about 2 o'clock

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in the morning, Detroit time, and you know,

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never heard a peep out of anybody,

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except one guy, my friend Pete Sark,

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who was an announcer who lived in Flint.

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He called me the next day and said,

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do you know what you said?

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I said, I don't know.

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I sort of thought I made a slip,

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but Paul Kerry didn't react.

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What was it?

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And he told me, and I dropped the phone.

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Oh, me.

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Oh, me.

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Woo.

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Ha, ha, ha, ha.

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Woo.

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My son, he steps away from the plate, gets back in.

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Collins is coming down that line a little leisurely right now.

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Crawford looks over to him.

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Now, here he comes to the plate, stealing home the throw,

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and he is safe.

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He gets a steal of home by Collins.

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Freehand is putting up a dam on argument with Garcia,

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the plate on fire.

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He claims he had him.

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Here comes Rob Halk out.

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He's getting in on the argument.

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Crawford is over there watching.

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Freehand is meeting his minutes of place.

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That's probably something that you're not most proud of,

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but one of some of the things you are most proud of.

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One of the highlights of my career, I think,

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was being put in the Guinness Book of Records,

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the only media member who's in the Book of Records,

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and I'm in there as the most enduring baseball announcer.

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I'm very proud of the fact that the folks at the tower out

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at Metropolitan Airport named an airspace after me,

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so if you come in maybe over Jackson, coming into Detroit,

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you got to go through an airspace named Ernie Horwell.

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First active broadcaster to enter the Hall of Fame.

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And I'm very proud of the press box dedication at Comerica Park

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that the Tigers accorded me, plus the stature

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that Mike Illich had constructed for me that is there

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in the ballpark.

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By the way, that stature did a good job

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because they put all the wrinkles in my pants.

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I weigh 350 pounds, and I'm hollow.

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Sports Illustrated named to me as the radio announcer

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for their all-time dream team when they selected

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that team a couple of decades ago.

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And I'm very proud that the Detroit Public Library dedicated

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a room to Lulu and me to house my sports collection.

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How would you want to be remembered?

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I'd like to be remembered in the world

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of some real rich guy.

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That's how I'd like to be remembered.

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Have you got any prospects for me?

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Well, I think the Bible in Micah says,

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son of man, what does God require of you but to do justice,

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love mercy, and walk humbly with your God?

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And that's what I've tried to do.

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I probably haven't done it very well,

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but I'd like to be remembered as making a try at that.

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The Tigers have just finished their 2002 season,

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and I've just finished my baseball broadcasting career.

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And it's time to say goodbye, but I think goodbye is a sad,

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and I'd much rather say hello.

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Hello to a new adventure.

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I'm not leaving, folks.

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I'll still be with you, living my life in Michigan,

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my home state surrounded by family and friends.

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And rather than goodbye, please allow me to say thank you.

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Thank you for letting me be part of your family.

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Thank you for taking me with you to that cottage up north,

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to the beach, to picnic, your workplace, and your backyard.

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Thank you for sneaking your transistor under the pillow

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as you grew up loving the Tigers.

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Now, I might have been a small part of your life,

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but you've been a very large part of mine,

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and it's my privilege and honor to share with you

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the greatest game of all.

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Now, God has a new adventure for me,

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and I'm ready to move on.

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So I'll leave you with a deep sense of appreciation

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for your long-time loyalty and support.

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I thank you very much, and God bless all of you.

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This is an open letter to Ernie Harwell.

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Dear Ernie, 53 years ago, I followed you into Brooklyn.

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20 years ago, I followed you into the Hall of Fame,

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and our relationship has only been perfect.

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Baseball is so much richer for having you all these years

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and poorer for losing you.

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Sincerely yours with love and affection, Ben Scully.

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Hi, Ernie.

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Nice to see you, and congratulations on your retirement.

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You deserve it.

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I tell you, you've been one of the icons

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in the history of the game of baseball,

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and I feel very privileged to have been able to get to know you

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way back when you were doing Oreo baseball,

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going to your home and seeing the sporting news you had there,

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the history of the game, meeting your twins.

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And it's been a good role, and I tell you,

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you're going to enjoy your retirement a great deal.

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And I'm just privileged to be a part of baseball with you.

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Thank you.

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Hi, Ernie.

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This is your old buddy, Tramp.

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I know you're retiring from your broadcast booth,

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but we all know this is just a semi-retirement.

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Hope the best for you and Lulu in the coming years.

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There's one phrase that's used quite often, you're the best.

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But in your case, Ernie, you simply are the best.

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We're going to miss you.

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All of baseball and all Tiger fans are going to miss you.

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Ernie, best of luck.

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Mr. Harwell, this is Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees.

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I just want to congratulate you on your retirement.

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And from someone who grew up listening to you,

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you will be greatly missed.

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Ernie, I can't tell you how much I'm going to miss you.

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I go back, like few other people anymore left in baseball,

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to the old New York Giants when Ernie Harwell used to be

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in the booth.

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But what I'm going to miss most of all

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is the visits in the clubhouse, the visit and the dugout,

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being able to talk with the old Hall of Famer

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and just talk about life.

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You're such a wonderful human being.

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There's plenty more gas left in the tank, my man.

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And I hope you make a visit from time to time.

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We're going to miss you.

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Hello, Ernie.

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I'll be so glad to have you home soon

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to help me in the garden with getting rid of the old vegetable

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garden and making a new one and planting some new roses.

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It makes me think of how many times I've had to be alone.

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And I want to thank the fans for giving you back

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to spend the time with me.

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Hurry up and get home, Ernie.

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William Ernest Harwell began his broadcasting career

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in Atlanta, Georgia in 1940.

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From 1948 to 2002, he called over 8,000 baseball games.

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And in 1981, received the greatest honor of them all,

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induction into the baseball Hall of Fame.

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From Jackie Robinson and Pee Wee Reese, Willie Mays and Bobby

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Thompson to Leo DeRosher and Sparky Anderson.

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Ernie painted a picture of baseball unlike any other.

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Baseball is the president tossing out

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the first ball of the season.

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And a scrubby schoolboy playing catch

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with his dad on the Mississippi farm.

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A tall, thin old man waving a scorecard

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from the corner of his dugout.

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That's baseball.

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And so is a big, fat guy with a bulbous nose running home

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one of his 714 home runs.

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There's a man in Mobile who remembers that Honest Wagner

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hit a triple in Pittsburgh 46 years ago.

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That's baseball.

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And so is a scout reporting that a 16-year-old pitcher

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in Cheyenne is the coming Walter Johnson.

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Baseball is a spirited race of man against man,

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reflex against reflex, a game of inches.

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Every skill is measured.

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Every heroic, every failing is seen in cheer or booed

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and then becomes a statistic.

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In baseball, democracy shines its glaring.

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The only race that matters is the race of the bag.

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The Creed is a rulebook.

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And color merely something to distinguish one team's

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uniform from another.

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Baseball is a rookie.

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His experience is no bigger than the lump in his throat

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as he begins full film of his dream.

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And it's a veteran too.

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A tired old man of 35 hoping that those aching muscles

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can pull him through another sweltering August

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and September nicknames of baseball, names

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like Zeke and Pye and Kike and Home Run and Cracker

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and Disney and Dancing.

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Baseball is a clear cool eyes of Roger's Hornspeak,

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the flashing spikes of a tie-com and an overage

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pixie named Rabbit Moranville.

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Baseball, just the game, as simple as a ball and batting,

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yet as complex as the American spirit symbolizes.

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A sport, a business, sometimes almost even religion.

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While the fairy tale of Willie May is making a brilliant world

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series catcher, then dashing off to play stickball

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in the streets with his teenage fouls.

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That's baseball.

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So as a husky boy of a doom-blue Garry's Fang,

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I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.

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Baseball is a garth moat.

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Hot roast at Tina's.

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The sporting news.

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Ladies' Day down in front.

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Take me out to the ball game in the Star Spangled Banner.

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Baseball is a tongue-tied kid from Georgia growing up

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to be an announcer and praising the Lord for showing him

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the way to Coopers Town.

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This is a game for America.

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Still a game for America, this baseball.

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Thank you.

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Thank you.