(photo of Harwell taken directly from Granderson’s personal myspace page)
In perhaps one of the classiest articles I’ve read regarding the passing of Ernie Harwell, former Tiger centerfielder Curtis Granderson dedicated his most recent blog on Yahoo Sports to the late broadcaster. Granderson details his first and last meeting with Harwell, and goes out of his way to explain just what Ernie meant to the Tigers organization, their fans and to him personally.
For a guy to choose to address the death of someone affiliated with his former team, as opposed to writing about his current injury as he first had planned, speaks volumes as to what type of person Curtis Granderson really is. For every McGwire, Bonds or Clemens who gave this sport a tarnished image, theres a diamond in the rough like Mr. Granderson. A classy individual who can prioritize the importance of off-field happenings, and who realizes that it truly is just a game. It’s not just what you do on the field that people will notice, but also what you choose to give back to the game, and Curtis gets that more than most.
For every Tigers fan reading this post, it’s all but a given that you were also a Ernie Harwell fan. When Curtis was still a Tiger, I didn’t know many people who weren’t fans of his also. Do yourself a favor and take the five minutes to read Granderson’s entire post, as it was out of respect for the Detroit fans, the Tigers’ organization and ultimately Mr. Harwell, that he wrote it in the first place.
[YahooSports – The Grandstand]
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