Top 40 Ernie Harwell Quotes

A tall, thin old man waving a scorecard from the corner of his dugout. That’s baseball.

I have a great faith in God and Jesus.

The game’s the thing. That’s why people tune in. They don’t tune in to hear an announcer.

What happens with any announcer when he comes into an area, if he stays four or five years and does a fairly decent job, people accept him and he becomes part of the family.

Everybody in the minor leagues – if you’re a player, an announcer, whatever – wants to be in the big leagues.

I’ve found that if you wear a beret, people think you’re either a cabdriver or a producer of dirty movies.

Also I’m a part of the people that I’ve worked with in baseball that have been so great to me, Mr. Earl Mann of Atlanta, who gave me my first baseball broadcasting job.

I just have faith. It’s just there. It’s not any big deal.

It’s time to say goodbye, but I think goodbyes are sad and I’d much rather say hello. Hello to a new adventure.

Why the fairy tale of Willie Mays making a brilliant World Series catch, and then dashing off to play stickball in the street with his teenage pals. That’s baseball. So is the husky voice of a doomed Lou Gehrig saying, ‘I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth.’

Whatever happens, I’m ready to face it.

In baseball, democracy shines its clearest. The only race that matters is the race to the bag. The creed is the rule book. And color, merely something to distinguish one team’s uniform from another’s.

It’s been a terrific life.

I love what I do. If I had my time over again, I’d probably do it for nothing.

The best thing anyone can do is be himself. Everyone was made different by God, and that’s the way it should be. And if I were a writer or an announcer starting out, I don’t think I’d imitate anybody. I’d try to be whatever I am.

If I walked back into the booth in the year 2025, I don’t think it would have changed much. I think baseball would be played and managed pretty much the same as it is today. It’s a great survivor.

I knew that everybody could be replaced. Nobody lasts forever. And if you work for somebody, he’s certainly got the privilege and the right to fire you.

Baseball just a came as simple as a ball and bat. Yet, as complex as the American spirit it symbolizes. A sport, a business and sometimes almost even a religion.

With the Giants I broadcast the debut of Hall of Famer Willie Mays.

I’d like to be remembered as someone who showed up for the job. I consider myself a worker.

When I went to Brooklyn in 1948 Jackie Robinson was at the height of his brilliant career.

I think I owe thanks to the people who have listened to me over the years, who tuned in on the radio. They have given me a warmth and loyalty that I’ve never been able to repay. The way they have reached out to me has certainly been the highlight of my life.

I look on life as a joyous adventure.

I deeply appreciate the people of Michigan. I love their grit. I love the way they face life. I love the family values they have.

I’m a failed newspaper man myself.

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.

I praise the Lord here today. I know that all my talent and all my ability comes from him, and without him I’m nothing and I thank him for his great blessing.

I have great faith that Heaven’s there and I’ll see my brothers and my mom and dad when I get there.

I think God always has the best for us.

I’ve been lucky to broadcast some great events and to broadcast the exploits of some great players.

It isn’t me that people love. It’s baseball.

God blessed me by putting me here for thirty-one years at Michigan and Trumbull.

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.

Baseball is a rookie, his experience no bigger than the lump in his throat as he begins fulfillment of his dream.

Baseball is a tongue-tied kid from Georgia growing up to be an announcer and praising the Lord for showing him the way to Cooperstown. This is a game for America. Still a game for America, this baseball!

In my almost 92 years on this earth, the good Lord has blessed me with a great journey.

In radio, they say, nothing happens until the announcer says it happens.

Everybody we meet has an influence on us and an impact – good or bad. And I think that’s why we have to be careful with the way we handle people because what we’re doing is making an impact.

There’s a man in Mobile who remembers that Honus Wagner hit a triple in Pittsburgh 46 years ago. That’s baseball.

I think if you checked the attendance records of all the announcers, you’d find a lot better record than you would of anybody else in any other business because we love the game and have a passion for it.