MLB History

For a man considered by many to be very talented, Milton Bradley has called eight cities "home" in 11 seasons in MLB.

Relief pitching in the first half of the 20th century was much different than the relief pitching of today.

Back then, it was still the general ideology of managers that the good arms were in the starting rotation and the duds were in the bullpen.

In a way it was true.

However, that ideology was starting to shift by the 1960s and the relief pitchers on this list broke that rule.

They could flat out pitch.

Just as the sun sets on an evening at the ballpark, so has the life of Ernie Harwell.

Harwell, the famed radio announcer for the Detroit Tigers since 1960, passed Tuesday evening before the first pitch in the Tigers-Twins game.

At the ripe age of 92 and suffering from bile duct cancer, Harwell probably defied a lot of odds placed against him. Luckily, for the sake of Tigers fans, he stayed on this earth as long as he did.

Harwell called his last baseball game in 2002.

The New York Yankees have had two Hall of Fame catchers. 

Bill Dickey played during the 1930s and early 1940s. Yogi Berra replaced Dickey and played from the late 1940s until the early 1960s. 

It is the spring of 1976, before Mark Fidrych’s mercurial career took off, when “the bird” still meant something not so nice.

My friend Kris Donker and I are loitering in the expensive box seats next to the Tigers dugout at Tiger Stadium, prior to a weekend afternoon game. We take in the majesty of the ballpark, with Chicago White Sox players taking batting practice before us.

Unbeknownst to us, we are blocking the access to a swinging gate/door that leads directly to the field.

“Excuse me, fellas!”

Wayne Consalvi was more than likely in his Man Cave on Monday night, after a long day at work. He felt relaxed, he was home alone, and his wife now had a different last name.

He popped open a few beers and watched his beloved Philadelphia Phillies take on the St. Louis Cardinals.

The first beer was a congratulatory one for himself, the next pilsner, was a cheers for his son Steve.

By his own account Steve is, “a real good student, heading to Penn State,” he told the Philadelphia Inquirer.

"Baseball is the President tossing out the first ball of the season and a scrubby schoolboy playing catch with his dad on a Mississippi farm. A tall, thin old man waving a scorecard from the corner of his dugout. That's baseball."—Ernie Harwell in his Induction Day Speech (August 2, 1981)

Quotes from Ernie Harwell

"Baseball is a lot like life. It's a day-to-day existence, full of ups and downs. You make the most of your opportunities in baseball as you do in life."

Last year, you might recall I had a season-long series on the art of the stolen base and whether or not we'll ever see a 100-steal man again.

While I have my doubts, I will however be continuing that monthly column update with yearly totals so look for that at the beginning of each month for the rest of the season.

With that here is the first installment of 2010:

Ernie Harwell's voice was the soundtrack of my childhood.

Growing up as a sports fan in Michigan, how could it not be?

With today's heart-wrenching news that Ernie has passed away, it's time for me to belatedly dig back through the wonderful memories.

I know millions of Tigers fans—okay, millions of people—have great memories of Ernie Harwell.

But I can't speak for them.

I can only share mine.

- - -

I remember counting down the days until the first spring training game of each season.

So there I was, sitting at the table watching sportscenter and drinking my morning coffee.

My wife had woke up and fixed herself a cup of tea.

As she rolled her eyes when she realized it was not the morning news, but sports once again, on the TV.

It was about that time that the story about the fan, Steve Consalvi, who ran on to the field during a Philadelphia Phillies game came on.