When I was growing up, I was obsessed with Detroit Tigers baseball. Being born downriver Detroit, I think I had a right to be. You can imagine my complete lack of perspective when I was four years old and the Detroit Tigers won the World Series in 1984 -- I thought everyone would want to throw a party. I lived in suburban Cleveland at the time, so it turns out that nobody did. One of the advantages of living on the other side of Lake Erie, though, was that nothing got in the way of those 760AM radio waves coming across the waters from Motown... and I got to listen to Tigers games in the garage with my dad on his shitty shop radio. I think he finally got rid of that thing, although I was convinced he never would. I can't tell you how many times I stubbed my toes riding my bike in the garage while listening to those games.

Before my brother was adopted and before all of my cousins on my dad's side of the family were born, my sister and I would spend weekends galore at our grandparents' cottage on Saginaw Bay and whenever we would play some baseball related game (which usually ended up with me in tears in some form or another largely because my sister cheated; she's two years older than me but when we were 4 and 6, it might as well have been twenty) I would always pretend to be the Tigers. My Tigers.

I moved back to Michigan shortly before my sixth birthday. Suddenly, it was okay for me to be Tigers and University of Michigan fan again. I guess. I didn't know any better, anyway, so I didn't care. What I did care about, though, was getting to watch my beloved Detroit Tigers on TV. All the time. You have to remember that I didn't have cable but it didn't matter because hardly anyone did.

For years, I got to watch Sweet Lou Whitaker, Allen Trammel, Darrel Evans (who actually kinda sucked), Chet Lemon, Kirk Gibson, I could go on like this for a while... Even when the Tigers sucked (read: the 1990's and the early part of this decade), I'd watch them. Multiple games attended per year. Even more watched at home with sliding glass door open but the screen door closed, sitting on my couch, enjoying a beer after work. That makes it sound like a Bruce Springsteen song. Well, I think it does.

One of the reasons that I loved the game so much was the announcing skills of one Mr. George Kell.

Who?
Mr. George Kell. 10 time All-Star. Beat Ted Williams for a batting title in the 1950's. Member of the Baseball Hall of Fame. A southern drawl as smooth as slik.

Until the end of the 1996, when Mr. Kell retired from TV announcing, I listened to him. "Thanks, Larry, and good afternoon, everyone, it's a beautiful day for a ball game." He would start out every day game the same way without fail. He always talked about "the payoff pitch" -- a phrase that has gotten me a look or two at the bar while watching a game when I repeat it. I have so many memories from growing up and watching and listening to the Tigers... and so many of them are largely influenced by George Kell.

I remember the day that Allen Trammel retired. I remember hearing the raves of rookie catcher Matt Nokes. I remember seldom heralded and little known third basemen Tom Brookins hitting a grand slam during a completely meaningless game and thinking that baseball was never going to get any better than it did right then and there. And I remember George Kell announcing all of it.

George Kell was an iconic voice in Detroit sports. The only other one in the same rarified air would be Ernie Harwell (God, help me when he completely stops). His love of the game got me excited to play catch. It got me excited to learn how to throw a knuckleball which I never really quite mastered. It got me excited for the first week of April every year growing up when every team started out in 1st place.

Mr. George Kell and passed away this morning at his home in Arkansas. Most people in the baseball-starved state of Tennessee won't know a thing about Mr. Kell. Most people won't care about an old guy who talked about baseball for a living. Most people won't care about this note. And that's fine.

Mr. Kell, you were, are, and always will be an icon to me and so many other Detroit Tigers baseball fan. I want to say "thank you" for getting and keeping me interested in baseball for years. Awww... hell... I said I "was obsessed" with Tigers baseball. I still am.

Thanks, George, for contributing to my intense love of the game. I owe you a hot dog and a Budweiser one of these days.