‘As long as you’re respectful’: Rick Rizzs lets Curley tell the Detroit story that brought him back to the Mariners

Rick Rizzs called his last Mariners game Sunday, ending 41 seasons in Seattle. Early in his career, he took what may have been the hardest job in baseball broadcasting: replacing Ernie Harwell in Detroit.

Rizzs threw out the ceremonial first pitch at T-Mobile Park on Saturday. On Sunday, he called his final game, against the Los Angeles Angels, closing out 52 years in professional baseball. He is the longest-tenured broadcaster in Mariners history, and his 41 seasons passed Hall of Famer Dave Niehaus’ 34.

His only break from Seattle was a three-year stint with the Detroit Tigers from 1992 to 1994. On “The John Curley Show” on KIRO Newsradio, host John Curley told the story of those years. He said Rizzs gave him permission on one condition.

“He says, ‘As long as you’re respectful, I’ll let you tell the story,'” Curley said.

A city that wanted Ernie back

Harwell had been the voice of the Tigers since 1960. In December 1990, the team’s new president, former Michigan football coach Bo Schembechler, fired him.

“Not only do they get rid of him, but they get rid of the guy with no severance or anything,” Curley said. “Just gone.”

Detroit turned on the team. Longtime Detroit anchor Bill Bonds delivered an on-air editorial against the decision.

“I have never seen a worse decision handled so badly, so ineptly, so insensitively,” Bonds said. “I have never seen and heard such white-hot anger from so many people: lawyers, ex-cons, hookers and nuns, sportswriters and crap-shooting all-nighters.”

Fans boycotted Domino’s Pizza, which was owned by Tigers owner Tom Monaghan.

“There were giant billboards taken out all over the city, screaming and yelling about Ernie Harwell being let go,” Curley said. “‘We want Ernie back.’ ‘Say it ain’t so, Bo.'”

Rizzs was the one who had to walk into that. Curley said fans hung a huge “Bring Ernie back” banner in center field, right where Rizzs could see it from the booth.

“Imagine having a job where every day when you go into work, you have to sit there and look out at the fact that everyone there in the stadium hates you,” Curley said. “Not you necessarily, but what you represent. You represent a guy that everybody loved, and now here you are, every single day going to work, and everyone is looking at you like, ‘We don’t want you here.'”

Curley said broadcasters have a rule for moments like that.

“They always say in radio, you never want to be the guy that replaces the guy,” Curley said.

“It has nothing to do with your skill or your talent,” KIRO producer Joe Wallace added. “It has everything to do with you not being that guy.”

‘A high ground ball’

Detroit Free Press columnist Charlie Vincent went after Rizzs in print. Curley said one of his targets was a call where Rizzs described a “high ground ball.” Vincent wrote that hearing it nearly made him drive off the road.

“Paragraph after paragraph, just blasting away at Ernie Harwell’s replacement,” Curley said.

Rizzs told Tigers manager Sparky Anderson that he planned to confront the columnist. Curley said Anderson talked him out of it.

“Sparky says, ‘Let me tell you something. Do you think that this organization, this esteemed organization, would ever hire somebody and put that person in that seat that isn’t worthy of that seat?'” Curley said.

Then a college professor wrote that the sound of Rizzs’ voice made him want to break things.

“The college professor said that every time I hear that announcer on the radio, I want to take out a hammer and slam something, break something,” Curley said.

Curley said Rizzs responded by calling the professor and asking to speak to his class. The professor agreed.

“[Rizzs] says, ‘Be yourself. Be entirely yourself. Be uniquely yourself. Remember, there’s no one else who can replace who you are,'” Curley said. “It was a bit of a pep talk, not only for himself but for all the students that were sitting there.”

Rizzs told the class that no one can replace you if you are an original.

The rumor Harwell wouldn’t kill

Rumors kept going around that Harwell might come back. Curley said Rizzs ran into Harwell in California and asked him to end the talk.

“Rizzs says, ‘Listen, I really need you to just squash these rumors. If you’re not coming back, just tell everybody. You could make one phone call to the papers,'” Curley said. “‘But as long as people think there’s a chance, it’s really hard for me to do my job.'”

Harwell said no.

“Ernie Harwell looked at Rick Rizzs and said, ‘I can’t. I can’t do that,'” Curley said. “Rick goes back into work. All the signs, all the stories. ‘Fire him! We hate him. He’s horrible.'”

Rizzs eventually lost the job, and Harwell went back to the Tigers.

Years later, Harwell came to Seattle to call a game. Curley said Harwell stopped by the Mariners booth and shook hands with Niehaus. When Niehaus turned away to talk with someone else, Harwell leaned down to Rizzs.

“Ernie Harwell leans down, right in Rizzs’ ear, and says, ‘I’m sorry. I’m sorry I did that to you,'” Curley said.

Curley said Rizzs has a joke about what happened next.

“Rizzs says, ‘I stood up. I’m not a tall man, but I punched him right in the face,'” Curley said. “And everybody goes, ‘What?’ No, no, I didn’t. I hugged him, and I said, ‘That’s okay, Ernie. That’s okay. I understand.'”

Curley said Rizzs forgave Harwell, even after what those years had cost him.

“But the hell that his inability to be able to squash that rumor put Rizzs through,” Curley said.

Curley said Rizzs later learned why Harwell had kept the door open. Harwell had been fired without warning just before Christmas, and he needed money to help his son start a church.

Rizzs came back to Seattle in 1995 and stayed for three more decades. One of his biggest late-career calls came in 2025, when the Mariners beat the Tigers 3-2 in 15 innings in the American League Division Series and advanced to face Toronto.

“What an epic game!” Rizzs said on the call.

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to “The John Curley Show” weekdays from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio 97.3 FM.

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