In Praise of Ernie Tyler

It's been a rough week for sports fans. Most of the news has occurred off the field and none of it good.

But in the midst of all this tsuris, a story that reminds me why I love sports.

You see, Baltimore Orioles' umpires attendant Ernie Tyler is taking the day off today.

"So what," you say. "Everybody takes a day off."

Not Ernie. The 83-year-old hasn't missed a single home game since 1960, the year he got the job.

That's 47 years and 3,770 regular-season games.

But Ernie's streak ends by choice, because he's travelling to Cooperstown to attend Cal Ripken's induction into the Hall of Fame.

Tyler is going as Ripken's guest, an honor he said was more important than his simply coming to work every day. He said the streak is not something that enters his mind, except when other people talk to him about it.

"I really am [more] interested and overwhelmed with going up with Cal Ripken. This is just another bump in the road for me, to leave here these two days."The Forest Hill resident has known Ripken since he was a teenager taking ground balls at Memorial Stadium with his dad, Cal Sr. Tyler became close with the Ripken family over the years and said if there was ever a reason to miss a day of work, this would be it.

"When I got the call, there was a 30-second delay where I was so overwhelmed, I couldn't get my mouth open," Tyler said. "They started telling me what was going to happen, and finally I said, 'Just tell me when to be there.'"

And Ernie's been true to more than the Orioles. Married 60 years to his wife Juliane, they have eleven kids, two of whom are also long-time Orioles employees. Says son Jim, 59, clubhouse manager:

He's a wonderful man and certainly a wonderful father. He's Ernie at the ballpark and Dad at home."

What you are, Ernie, is everything we all can hope to be.