That Ball Is Looong Gone
Wed, May16, 2007 - Category: Miscellaneous
According to the Detroit News, author and baseball historian Curt Smith said of Harwell's firing, "Bo Schembechler and Tom Monaghan should be ashamed of themselves. You cannot overestimate the damage this has done to the Tigers. If you are a businessman, you don't fire your best asset."
Sound familiar?
Roger McCaffrey, Publisher of Roman Catholic Books and former AMU employee, recently said "How do you recommend a University whose leaders behave as they did in firing their best friend, their most loyal and devoted player [Fr. Fessio]?"
The handling of Harwell by Monaghan was a foretaste of things to come, managerially.
Monaghan's judgement in managing people can be
considered suspect. Many people first tasted this
suspicion with the abrupt firing of
former AMU Provost Fr. Joseph
Fessio. Fessio is "the Pope's
publisher" (Editor, Ignatius Press), and has
been called "the most powerful priest in
America" (New Oxford Review). But many other
examples of the terminated faithful exist. Two
days before Monaghan sold the Tigers in August
1992, he fired Michigan icon and Tigers
president Bo Schembechler; days
later, Schembechler's wife died of adrenal
cancer (AP, Nov. 2006). Bo sued, claiming that
Monaghan violated his contract. The two settled
out-of-court in 1994, brokered in part by
attorney Joe Golden. AveWatch recently reported
that, thanks to a tip
from AMSL Dean Bernard Dobranski, Golden is now
helping former AMC employee Kate
Ernsting. Ernsting, who was fired by
Monaghan after reporting Ave Maria's
misappropriation of student loan money to the
federal government, is claiming protection under
Michigan's Whistleblower Protection Act. For the
past 2 years, Monaghan has blocked
the merits of her case from being evaluated
before a judge, using the "deep pockets"
approach to justice. A similar whistleblower
case was filed by AMC's Director of
Communications Jay McNally.
Last year, AMC's Dean of Students, Dr.
Chris Beiting was told to sign
a letter retracting his testimony to federal
investigators or lose his
job. Finally, it should be noted that Notre
Dame Professor Emeritus and AMSL co-founder
Charles Rice was booted from
AMSL's Board quite against Rice's will. Monaghan
had Board bylaws on term-limits changed such
that Rice was removed, but ensured that such
limits did not apply to Monaghan himself. Rice's
gravitas among legal scholars and Catholic
academics is often credited with the Law
School's early success in recruiting top faculty
and students. Rice's undoing was calling
Monaghan to task for requiring that duty to him,
as Chairman, subordinate all other duties of the
institution.
In 2002, a giant image of Ernie Harwell hanging over the main gate in Comerica Park was testament to the man's relationship to the Detroit and baseball communities. It is particularly impressive given the stature of Tiger greats such as Al Kaline, Ty Cobb, and Hank Greenberg.
Just shy of age 73 in 1991, Harwell had no thought of retirement. Ten years earlier, he had already received the Baseball Hall of Fame's Ford C. Frick Award, only the 5th broadcaster to earn such an honor. Yet, in December 1990, he was told that his upcoming 33rd season with the Tigers would be his final one in the broadcast booth.
Of the firing, Harwell said "It was a traumatic experience."
"I think there were a lot of angles," he says. "The announcer is here for years and people get used to him, number one. It's sort of a tribute to radio and baseball more so than the guy. And then I think, too, I was, if you'll pardon the expression, a poster boy for old age. You know, I was discriminated against because of my age and sort of the American throwaway-trash society. 'He's through. Let's dump this guy.' I had a lot of people at General Motors and Ford telling me, 'That happened to me. I don't like it either, but you hang in there,' and so forth. I think they identified with me because of that too." (Salon.com, Aug. 27, 2002)
Harwell, like Fr. Fessio, was unclear about the rationale for the firing. Detroit News: Harwell still didn't understand how the decision to dismiss him germinated in the Tiger organization. "My main reaction has been one of puzzlement,"he said. "I've had so much support from people, and that's been very gratifying. I can't allow myself to be bitter."
It is also difficult to reconcile how Monaghan did not appreciate Harwell's open Christian beliefs. On the subject of dealing with Monaghan's firing (Toledo Blade, 2007 interview): "I think faith helped a lot," Mr. Harwell said, "because I had the basic belief of Romans 8:28, that 'all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.' The article said further:
He has been active in Baseball Chapel since its founding in the 1970s. The organization is for players, coaches, umpires, other people in the majors and minor leagues and their wives, "who want to deepen their Christian faith but who are unable to attend church."
Baseball Chapel also sponsors public events including Home Plate, a program in which ballplayers share their faith with fans in sessions held before the games.
"I was in on the Chapel at the beginning," Mr. Harwell said. "I've talked to quite a few teams in Chapel - the Yankees and Boston, Tigers, Milwaukee, probably 8, 9, 10 teams."
Sunday is "sort of a stressful day" for baseball players and others whose jobs revolve around the game, he said.
"Usually it's the final day of a series and you have to get up and pack, check out, and have breakfast before heading to the park," Mr. Harwell said.
"In the days before Chapel, I used to tell my wife Lulu that my church is the closest one to the hotel. It could be Lutheran, Baptist, anything."
Tom Monaghan sold the Tigers in 1993 to Mike Ilitch of Little Caesar's pizza fame. One of Ilitch's first moves was to rehire Harwell. He continued to work for the Tigers for almost ten more years, retiring in 2002.
Too bad "Broadcaster in Residence" wasn't an option back in 1991.
In 2002, a giant image of Ernie Harwell hanging over the main gate in Comerica Park was testament to the man's relationship to the Detroit and baseball communities. It is particularly impressive given the stature of Tiger greats such as Al Kaline, Ty Cobb, and Hank Greenberg.
Just shy of age 73 in 1991, Harwell had no thought of retirement. Ten years earlier, he had already received the Baseball Hall of Fame's Ford C. Frick Award, only the 5th broadcaster to earn such an honor. Yet, in December 1990, he was told that his upcoming 33rd season with the Tigers would be his final one in the broadcast booth.
Of the firing, Harwell said "It was a traumatic experience."
"I think there were a lot of angles," he says. "The announcer is here for years and people get used to him, number one. It's sort of a tribute to radio and baseball more so than the guy. And then I think, too, I was, if you'll pardon the expression, a poster boy for old age. You know, I was discriminated against because of my age and sort of the American throwaway-trash society. 'He's through. Let's dump this guy.' I had a lot of people at General Motors and Ford telling me, 'That happened to me. I don't like it either, but you hang in there,' and so forth. I think they identified with me because of that too." (Salon.com, Aug. 27, 2002)
Harwell, like Fr. Fessio, was unclear about the rationale for the firing. Detroit News: Harwell still didn't understand how the decision to dismiss him germinated in the Tiger organization. "My main reaction has been one of puzzlement,"he said. "I've had so much support from people, and that's been very gratifying. I can't allow myself to be bitter."
It is also difficult to reconcile how Monaghan did not appreciate Harwell's open Christian beliefs. On the subject of dealing with Monaghan's firing (Toledo Blade, 2007 interview): "I think faith helped a lot," Mr. Harwell said, "because I had the basic belief of Romans 8:28, that 'all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.' The article said further:
He has been active in Baseball Chapel since its founding in the 1970s. The organization is for players, coaches, umpires, other people in the majors and minor leagues and their wives, "who want to deepen their Christian faith but who are unable to attend church."
Baseball Chapel also sponsors public events including Home Plate, a program in which ballplayers share their faith with fans in sessions held before the games.
"I was in on the Chapel at the beginning," Mr. Harwell said. "I've talked to quite a few teams in Chapel - the Yankees and Boston, Tigers, Milwaukee, probably 8, 9, 10 teams."
Sunday is "sort of a stressful day" for baseball players and others whose jobs revolve around the game, he said.
"Usually it's the final day of a series and you have to get up and pack, check out, and have breakfast before heading to the park," Mr. Harwell said.
"In the days before Chapel, I used to tell my wife Lulu that my church is the closest one to the hotel. It could be Lutheran, Baptist, anything."
Tom Monaghan sold the Tigers in 1993 to Mike Ilitch of Little Caesar's pizza fame. One of Ilitch's first moves was to rehire Harwell. He continued to work for the Tigers for almost ten more years, retiring in 2002.
Too bad "Broadcaster in Residence" wasn't an option back in 1991.