Opening.

For lo, the winter is past,
the rain is over and gone;
the flowers appear on the earth;
the time of the singing of birds is come,
and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.
- Song of Solomon, recited each inaugural spring training broadcast by long-time Tigers' play-by-play man, Ernie Harwell

I love baseball.

My Dad introduced me to the game and taught me to appreciate the poetry of the game. During the season, we threw every night. The poetry of persistence. That sound of the ball smacking the pocket of the glove. "Hit the belt." Organized or pick-up, I loved to play. Grass, dirt, chalk, fences, sky, wood, leather, and gum ... ingredients for true slendor.

Like hockey, nothing even comes close to being there ... unless you have a radio ... and work to do.

Growing up in central Michigan, some of my fondest memeories are of sunny Saturday afternoons, Dad's radio in the garage tuned to WJR (The Great Voice of The Great Lakes), and Ernie Harwell's magical voice doing the play-by-play. To this day Dad will mimmick Ernie's trademarks ...

... on a called strike three, "... and he stood like like a house by the side of the road," ...

... on the pitcher's delivery, "Fidrych kicks and deals,"

... or the random naming of the catcher of a foul ball, "... and a second grader from Saginaw caught that one."

Ed Werstein remembers Ernie ...

Ernie

Five minutes after tuning in late
you knew all the important stuff:

score, inning, situation, pitchers,
key plays, game summary,
(the Tiges [like tikes with a hard g]
scored first on Kaline’s
sacrifice fly in the third,
but the Bosox took the lead in
their half of the inning
with a two run blast by Malzone
after a one out walk to Runnels.)

If the Tigers were on the road,
you got some additional info.
Maybe a description of Comiskey Park,
right down to those beautiful arches,
or the dimensions of Fenway’s
green monster.

But the stats were just the stitching
in the patchwork of beautiful pictures
he pieced together.

Moms from Midland, lads from Lansing,
and those gentlemen from Ypsilanti
will still manage to snag foul balls.

Watching called third strikes sail by,
hitters will still just stand there
like the house by the side of the road.

Double plays will still be two for the price of one,
homers will still be loooong gone,
and fans will still be holding onto their beers
during those tense ninth innings.

But, like a ground-rule double
he hopped the fence and left the park.
Ernie Harwell is gone,
and no one will ever tell us that way again.

Today is Opening Day and my Tigers are in The Bronx, Justin Verlander taking the mound against the Yankees. Plug in the radio, tune in your team, and light the grill ... PLAY BALL!

The Bleacher Report "kicks and deals" here.

Don't miss Spitball, The Literary Baseball Magazine.