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Ernie Harwell started his big league announcing career when Dodger GM Branch Rickey traded catcher Cliff Dapper for his rights.

In 1948 Dodger announcer Red Barber took a medical leave for bleeding ulcers. Rickey saw the Double-A Atlanta Cracker announcer Harwell as a solid replacement. After contacting the Atlanta club owner, Rickey hashed out a one-of-a-kind trade swapping a catcher for the announcer.

Harwell remained in the booth for more than a half-century.

In the collection is this information card from the Heilbroner Baseball Bureau filled out and signed by the then-19 year old Dapper. Written in early 1939, the card is filled out entirely in Dapper’s hand.

The next image shows the back of this card with much of his playing record.

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Cliff Dapper played all 17 of his professional seasons – save one – in the minors. He started with Bellingham Chinooks in 1938 and toiled in the bushes until a late-season call up by the Dodgers in 1942.

The catcher performed well in his short stint in the bigs, going 8-for-17 with a double, a homer, two runs scored and 9 runs batted in. He never returned to the majors.

Though Dapper was traded for the rights to announcer Ernie Harwell in 1948, the two waited until 2002 to meet in person.  The occasion was the Comerica Park unveiling of a statue carved in Harwell’s likeness.

On September 15, 2002, more than 54 years after the men were traded for each other, they shook hands for the first time. 

Shown here is the reverse of the Heilbroner information card. Notice the listing for 1948, the year of the trade. The first team noted is the Dodgers Triple-A club in Montreal. Next is Harwell’s former employer, the Atlanta Crackers.

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Ernie Harwell got his start announcing big league ball games in 1948 with the Dodgers. Brooklyn GM Branch Rickey brought him in when play-by-play man Red Barber left the club to recuperate from bleeding ulcers.

When Barber returned, Harwell remained. Their first game together in the booth was a memorable one as Dodger right-hander Rex Barney threw a no-hitter.

The Georgia native’s worked just two seasons in Brooklyn before moving across town to the New York Giants. In 1951 he called Bobby Thomson’s “Shot Heard ‘Round the World” for television viewers.

At that time TV games were not recorded. Russ Hodges’ radio call, “The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!” lives today while Harwell’s call has vanished with time.

After the 1953 season, Harwell moved on to Baltimore to call Orioles games. There he built a friendship with aging star George Kell. As the Hall of Fame third baseman recovered from a beaning in 1957, Harwell invited him to do play-by-play innings.

Two years later Kell took the job as color man in Detroit. When the Tigers looked for a new announcer in 1960, Kell recommended his old friend Harwell. Ernie got the job and became a Detroit institution.

In the 60s Harwell called World Series games for NBC radio; by the 70s he became CBS’s main man for the American League Championship Series.

In 1973 Paul Carey joined him in the Tigers booth. Their partnership lasted nearly two decades. For many Michiganders, the duo formed the soundtrack of the summers.

In 1981 Harwell received baseball’s highest honor for its announcers, the Hall of Fame’s Ford C. Frick Award.

At the ceremony he remarked, “I know that this is an award that is supposed to be for my contribution to baseball. But let me say this: I have given a lot less to baseball than it’s given to me. And the greatest gift that I’ve received from baseball is the way that the people in the game have responded to me with their warmth and their friendship.”

In December of 1990, after 30 seasons in Detroit, Harwell was unceremoniously dumped by newly-hired team president Bo Shembechler. Tiger fans were appalled. His absence wasn’t long.

Mike Ilitch bought the Tigers in 1992 and re-hired Harwell for the ’93 season. Ernie stayed another decade before calling it quits for good in 2002 at age 84.

After his final game, Harwell said his goodbye.

“I have just finished my baseball broadcasting career. And it’s time to say goodbye, but I think goodbyes are sad and I’d much rather say hello.

“Hello to a new adventure. I’m not leaving, folks. I’ll still be with you, living my life in Michigan—my home state—surrounded by family and friends.

“And rather than goodbye, please allow me to say thank you. Thank you for letting me be part of your family. Thank you for taking me with you to that cottage up north, to the beach, the picnic, your work place and your back yard. Thank you for sneaking your transistor under the pillow as you grew up loving the Tigers.

“Now I might have been a small part of your life. But you’ve been a very large part of mine. And it’s my privilege and honor to share with you the greatest game of all.”

In the collection is this letter handwritten and signed by Ernie Harwell. He mentions his ” 1981 Hall of Fame induction” as his best memory and states that, “Baseball was no better when I started in 1948”. The correspondence is written on his personal letterhead.

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Each spring training Ernie Harwell began the broadcast of the first game by quoting the Bible. He chose Solomon 2:11-12 from the King James Version.

“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.”

It became a rite of passage for Tiger fans as the season began.

Among other fan-favorite trademark phrases, Harwell used two to describe a strikeout after a called strike three.

“He stood there like the house by the side of the road, and watched it go by.”

And, “Called out for excessive window shopping.”

When pitchers turned a double play, Harwell exclaimed “It’s two for the price of one!”

Detroit baseball fans recall Harwell with a fondness matched by few announcers in the game’s history.

Shown here is a handwritten letter signed by Harwell. He pens, “My father was most influential in my career. He was a great man and an outstanding role model.

“My biggest thrill was ’81 induction BB HOF.”

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Ernie Harwell’s voice remains familiar for generations of Detroit baseball fans. From 1960-2002 he saw the ups and downs of Tigers baseball.

When asked the greatest Tigers moment he witnessed, Harwell’s choice is clear.

According to Baseball Almanac he said, “The greatest single moment I’ve ever known in Detroit was Jim Northrup’s triple in the seventh game of the [1968] World Series in St. Louis. It was a stunning moment because not only were the Tigers winning a world championship that meant so much to an entire city, they were beating the best pitcher I ever saw—Bob Gibson.”

Shown here is the contract Gibson signed to play for the Cardinals in 1974. That year he struck out his 3,000th batter to join Walter Johnson as the only two to reach the milestone.