Driving home today I was thinking about one of my favorite memories of Mr Ernie. Last season, Mom and I went up to the club level (I cant remember why) and there was Mr Ernie chatting away. We were all headed the same direction and he and I walked down the hall arm-in-arm past the pictures of the Orioles from years past.

What the Angels are learning

Heaven must have needed an angel this week but what the angels are just learning is what I have known all my life.

They are just learning about what it feels like to walk the halls of the stadium arm-in-arm with Ernie Tyler where the chaos of the stadium falls away and you know you are in the presence of an angel

To know such kindness, compassion, and love from a soul so gentle that you were all that mattered in those moments

The angels will learn that this angel, who blessed us so dearly, was never too busy to say hello, give a hug, and share a moment

The angels are meeting one of their own and hearing the stories of baseball come and gone. His gift for talking story about baseball was a gift to those of us blessed to grow up with Mr Ernie in our lives

They will learn that the umpire attendant is the soul of the stadium, caring for those who rule the game and their families too

For what the angels don’t yet know, is what all of us who were blessed by Mr Ernie’s life know

That no ballgame was complete without a hug from him, that if we were stuck in a rain delay Mr Ernie knew if it was worth waiting or if we should call it a night

That the one constant in Orioles Baseball was Ernie Tyler, our beloved Mr Ernie

From his stool at the edge of the home dugout where he knew what the umpires needed before they could ask

He knew the umpires by name and would set the room just so for them, baseballs rubbed with mud from only a location he knew

Or from his post just outside the family room, in the hallway, with the security guards and that smile upon his face

This season wont be the same without our beloved Mr Ernie but we are all better people for having walked with him, for having known him, and being blessed by his life.