Ernie Harwell

Ernie Harwell

Hall of Fame broadcaster Ernie Harwell, the voice for the Tigers for more than four decades and an icon for the Tigers well beyond his retirement from broadcasting in 2002, has been diagnosed with cancer. Harwell has an incurable tumor around his bile duct. He revealed the diagnosis in Friday's edition of the Detroit Free Press, for whom he has worked as a columnist for several years, and where he explained his outlook. "We don't know how long this lasts," Harwell told the newspaper in a phone interview. "It could be a year. It could be much less than a year, much less than a half a year. Who knows?

Harwell, 91, was hospitalized for a few weeks with a bile duct obstruction. He returned to his home in suburban Detroit while doctors ran tests and was under orders to rest, though he still remained pretty active with his work, he told MLB.com recently, as he awaited news on what was causing the trouble. The tests eventually revealed the tumor and the outlook. His spirit, however, has remained surprisingly strong. "I think that when I heard the news -- that I had this cancer -- that I had a feeling of security and serenity," Harwell told the Free Press, "but I had a feeling of acceptance because of my belief in Jesus and the Lord."

Harwell's life and his ability to remain incredibly active into his 90s has become an example for people across the state through his role as a spokesperson for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. He has long credited his daily workouts, including walking and jumping rope, for helping him work for so long on Tigers radio broadcasts and defy the conventional limitations of his age well after he left the baseball airwaves. Now that he has received a worst-case prognosis, he has been forced to cut back on a lot of those activities. He'll reportedly close out his spokesperson engagements next week and will run a final column in the Free Press later this month. Still, he said he isn't in pain, and he joked that he has been able to eat like a kid again as he tries to keep up his weight.