Sadly, another baseball legend, and maybe even American icon, has passed away.

Ernie Harwell truly was the definition of a distinguished gentleman; as terrific a broadcaster as he was, he was an even better human being.

Harwell and a few others like Vin Scully, who delivered a beautiful soliloquy during the Dodgers game Tuesday night, are the last of the old-school baseball announcers who are identified with the team just as much, if not more, than the players themselves. They have seen the dramatic changes in the game and are so revered and woven into the fabric of their respective cities that their losses are so real and touch so many.

For someone like me, who has been broadcasting minor league baseball with the hopes of reaching the big leagues, and the others who do what I do, we strive to have a sliver of the career with some small measure of the lasting impact that someone like Harwell has had.

Harwell and Scully are the giants of the game and it is part of our job, and duty, to know what they have accomplished and how they paved the road to make it easier for us to pursue our dreams.

I was very fortunate to have had the opportunity to interview Harwell twice over the phone while doing my talk show in El Paso, Texas. The second was the day that Ted Williams was remembered at Fenway Park following his death and Harwell could not have been more gracious, more engaging, more informative and more perfectly attuned to the events of the day and their impact on Boston.

Long time Phillies announcer Harry Kalas was the reason I decided to pursue a career in baseball broadcasting and I was fortunate to meet him and tell him that in person. I also had the pleasure of interviewing him three times on my show in El Paso and was visibly saddened when he passed away last year. I closed the remaining 125 games of the 2009 season with an on-air dedication to him and can fully appreciate what the fans of the Tigers are going through as they line up to see Harwell lying in state today at the ball park.

In this ever changing and fast moving culture of ours, it is nice to see that someone can have such a profound impact on the lives of so many for doing something so fun and seemingly so simple as just broadcasting a baseball game.