The nervousness was there, just like what a fledgling sportscaster would experience if he or she were to meet Baseball Hall of Famer Ernie Harwell.
About two years ago, when I was writing for one of The Citizen’s sister publications, The Clarkston News. I traveled to the Clarkston home of Detroit sportswriting legend Joe Falls to interview him after he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
When I met Falls, my fears quickly subsided. Despite his many distinctions and honors, he treated me as an equal. It was a pleasure to talk baseball with him, and he said I can feel free to call him Joe and think of him as a friend.
It would be the only time I met Falls, who died Aug. 11 at the age of 76 after a long battle with diabetes. Yet, it was that hospitality that I most remembered about our interview.
During his career, which spanned more than 50 years until he retired from The Detroit News in May 2003, Falls covered all the premier sporting events ? the World Series, the Super Bowl, the Masters, just to name a few ? and interviewed many of the giants of the sporting world.
However, just by listening to him talk about baseball, you could tell it was his favorite sport. He worked as the Tigers beat writer at the now-defunct Detroit Times and the Detroit Free Press before becoming a sports columnist at the Free Press, and in 1978, The Detroit News.
One memorable anecdote involved him covering Game 1 of the 1988 World Series between the heavily favored Oakland Athletics and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
It was the bottom of the ninth inning, and Oakland was leading 4-3, with Athletics relief ace Dennis Eckersley ready to slam the door on the Dodgers. According to Falls, he was busy writing his game story and was ready to send it to press when the Dodgers? Kirk Gibson hit his now-legendary pinch-hit home run, forcing Falls to rewrite his story.
In his columns, Falls would call it as he saw it ? and would pull no punches in doing so ? but not in a mean-spirited or vindictive way. He was very much ‘old school? in his approach to sportswriting and treating people. It was easy to imagine sitting with him at a bar or restaurant and talking sports with him.
Sadly, that approach seems to be missing today. Listening to and reading many ? not all ? of the sports columnists and talk radio hosts, it seems making lots of noise and having a ‘tough-guy? attitude is the order of the day. Just because you can yell really loud, make outlandish predictions, or call people names, doesn’t mean your point is better than anyone else’s.
That was not the case with Falls. You could disagree with his opinions ? and, on occasion, I did ? but respect him for his decency and compassion for others. It is that approach which I try to emulate in my work here at The Citizen.
Godspeed, Joe. You’ll be missed, my friend.