Ernie

One of the small points about baseball is that it lends itself to radio better than any other sport. Since the games are long and daily, if you are involved in a team, you can spend more time with a play by play man than any other broadcaster. And since the games are so filled with the space between, you feel like these broadcasters are family, the soundtrack of your life as a fan.

In Philadelphia, it was Harry Kalas. In Chicago, it was Harry Caray. In Oakland, it was Bill King. In Los Angeles, it's Vin Scully. And in Detroit, it was Ernie Harwell, who died of cancer today at age 92.

When a voice like this passes, you don't need to have been local to it to know that something great has been lost. You just have to listen to the clips, or in Harwell's case, listen to the man's farewell address, delivered last September, after his cancer was diagnosed. May we all face the end of our time on the planet with such strength and dignity.