Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 41

6D DETROIT FREE PRESSSUNDAY, JULY 9, 1989 Mm LOOK! Authentic Detroit Tigers Baseball Card Team Set (Topps or Donruss authentic cards) Complete with checklist MINT Conditionl Listen and recall the voice of baseball 1989 Set 95 1988 Set ....3 95 1987 Set ....3.95 ORDERING INFORMATION Add 75 postatje handling per laam ml Any aftlpnient deliver outsrde the conlinentalU.S A.wtlbechaigedSlrmee normal post and hand. OHO resident add 6 Sales Tax. Prices ate subject to chanoe. PLEASE PRINT (Mai. PLEASE 1st UPS detveraUe address, we do not maKe Bon dehveries.

Your oredil card wHi be charged lor tte Ml amount whan your order enteri our system to Hat we can reserve your products at the prices quoted. There It a $1 00 ohargecardlee. CANAWANOHDERS: Moneyordet(lssued In Fundsl or VISATMnslercard orders only CALL TOLL FREE 1-800-457-9974 (lor Inlormntjon col 1-41 9-943 2612) or write some remote circumstance, from someplace out there will surface a recording of Harry's account of a Tiger game any game, radio or TV. That would be a treasure enough, but the ultimate thrill would be for such a recording to include Harry delivering his most memorable and poignant line, which he would occasionally utter after an outstanding play. Harry would remain silent for a few moments and turn his microphone toward the murmur of the crowd.

Then he would quietly say, "Listen to the voice of baseball!" men, this is your Goebel reporter, Harry Heilmann, speaking to you from the radio lounge of the Telenews news-reel theater in downtown Detroit. During Harry's last years, two-man radio teams were the trend. In 1949 Harry shared the mike with Van Patrick, who would replace Harry as the voice of the '50s. Heilmann went solo again for his final season in 1950, an exciting year in which the Tigers led most of the season only to fade badly at the end, yielding to the Yankees. When Heilmann died, for many of us the spirit of the ballclub died, too.

With all due respect to Van Patrick, most of us found the newcomer hard to accept. Anyone trying to replace Harry as the voice of the Tigers was looked upon as an imposter. (His burden was compounded by generally lackluster teams in the early '50s.) Life goes on, and we were grudgingly seduced back into the Tiger fold and came to accept the new Goebel reporter. But to many fans, the memory of the original Goebel reporter would never die. I only hope that before I die, by 1 remember listening to Heilmann's account of the 1945 pennant-clinching victory over St.

Louis, when Hank Greenberg hit his dramatic grand slam in the ninth. We knew it was being reported off the ticker, but it was almost the same as a live report from Briggs Stadium. For Tiger fans huddled over their radios, it didn't matter the Tigers had won a pennant and I larry Heilmann was telling us about it. His standard introduction to road games can also be recalled from memory: "Good afternoon, ladies and gentle By Marc Okkonen Special to the Free Press One of the saddest moments of my teen years in western Michigan occurred 38 years ago today, July 9, 1951, when the radio voice of the Detroit Tigers, Harry Heilmann, died at age 56. We all knew that Harry had been ill he was suddenly hospitalized while with the team in spring training, and when the season opened Detroit area broadcaster Ty Tyson had come out of retirement to pinch-hit for Heilmann until he could return to the microphone.

Harry came back for a few innings now and then, but he was not able to Howard Sport collectltnet 128 E. Main St. P.O. Bon 84 Dept. OfP 623 LelpSlC, Ohio 45856 ACCEPTED BUSMFSS BttCE 1 1TS 100 OU AH ANTES nriuAN linnn MM MM I 1.

resume tun broadcasting duties. The serious nature of his illness was not publicized at first, so his faithful listeners didn't know his days were numbered. We anxiously awaited his return Tiger baseball over the radio 1947 photo Harry Heilmann at the mike. rC oYo jittSU tzwpfm a i ri mi i A tumor wvmcuamiJKrxm. rei i ie a i rTfc AC MOTORCRAFT AC SPARK PLUGS lOJ l)S OIL FILTERS I V) Limit 16 at sale price.

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But Harry's family and close friends and baseball insiders knew, and they launched an effort to get Harry elected to baseball's Hall of Fame before he died. Everyone agreed that Hermann's career guaranteed his eventual entry, but the next election committee was not scheduled to meet until January and time was running out. A movement spearheaded by former teammates Fred Haney and Ty Cobb and veteran Detroit News baseball scribe H.G. Sal-singer resulted in a special election meeting scheduled for August. Cobb wrote to Harry, prematurely assuring him of entry in the next selection.

Heilmann passed away before it became official, but he went to his deathbed knowing he was to join the select group of baseball immortals. The loss of Heilmann was only one of a series of events that marked 1951-52 as a low point in the club's history. Chief scout Wish Egan died in April 1 951 and club owner Walter 0. Briggs died in early 1952. Team fortunes plummeted on the field, too, as Red Kolfe's pennant contenders of 1950 finished fifth in 1951 and dead last (for the first time) in 1952.

Heilmann's career statistics speak for themselves, but to Tiger fans during the '30s and '40s he was more than a Tiger immortal he was the voice of the Tigers, present and past. Heilmann's steady, authoritative voice was a soothing feature of summer days in Michigan from 1934 to 1951. Harry knew he was once a superstar, but he never dwelt on his accomplishments. He readily confessed that he was no great outfielder or first baseman, and he included himself when recalling the heavy-hitting but terrible-fielding Detroit teams in the '20s. "We'd bat in six runs and boot in eight," he'd say with a chuckle.

Rain delays or pitching changes gave Heilmann the opportunity to practice his specialty: story telling. 1 larry's favorite subject was the Georgia I'each, Ty Cobb his manager and mentor during the early '20s. Cobb was not a lovable man, and Harry often revealed Cobb's flawed character along with insights into his fierce combative spirit and Southern chivalry. Despite Heilmann's candid portrayal of Cobb's shortcomings, Harry always added a note of respect for Cobb's skills and of gratitude for forging him into a superior hitter. Heilmann's batting average in the years before Cobb became manager in 1921 clearly supported this he hit .291 from 1914 to '20 and .366 for the balance of his career.

One of Heilmann's grammatical idiosyncrasies was his use of "we" instead of Another was to drop the at the end of words or names. When catcher Sherman Lollar of Cleveland came up to the big leagues, Harry compensated for this quirk with CAR POLISHERWAXER With exchange. Reg. to 38.99 34.99 Reg. over 38.99 20 OFF TURBO TEK WASHER The ultimate power pressure washer.

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SA 16,0 WARRIN Vi.ii DKlii nl Milt- 7M4S0O 6W 73UO iioteri ll ml item ii. iinrrvniliihle. ri ySA 30J0 riAV llenn.l DI1ROIT 4750 lAKMINBION the phrase, "Sherman Lollah rhymes with DOLLAH!" Tiger fans in the late '40s took particular delight when Detroit lefty Hal Newhouser would pitch against Cleveland's Bob Feller Mobil was a sponsor for Heilmann's broadcasts in the early '40s, and one of its advertised by-products was a fly spray called BUGABOO. Although the idea probably didn't originate with Heilmann, the reaction "Bugaboo! another dead fly!" was a regular comment on Harry's broadcasts whenever a fielder caught a fly ball. The best-remembered sponsor in Heilmann's later years was the Goebel Brewery, and Harry identified himself to the radio audience as "your Goebel reporter." Many Detroit fans who remember the late '40s could, I am sure, repeat from memory Heilmann's introduction to broadcasts of home games: "Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, this is your Goebel reporter, Harry Heilmann, speaking to you frombeautiful Briggs Stadium 334- l'lriiili el Miilillrln ll 471 MW MONRO! IOTS lii.li'llwy Ml-MM MONROI 741 -7410 OAK PARK II Mill-1 rSil I S47 8944 PON1IAC IViiri.lWiillniillliiil 373-3360 POHI HURON WW V4t4 V07-BH0 DIDIOKD Ciiiiinl Hi -0O4O MON -IRI 30AM WM SA1URPAY 9AM 6I'M SUNDAY 9AM 6I'M RIGHION 1WJW CANTON 4611 minilieik will he isMieil.

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