Ernie

Longtime Orioles "ballboy" and umpire attendant Ernie Tyler has made his decision. He will leave the field permanently at the request of his family. Don't misunderstand. Tyler, who has been a fixture near the Orioles dugout for the past 50 years, is not retiring. He will continue to manage the umpires' room and prepare the balls for each game. Tyler's status had been a source of disagreement with his children -- particularly Orioles clubhouse managers Jim and Fred Tyler -- who persuaded him to stay off the field last year after he underwent hernia surgery.

DOVER, Del. -- Move over, Dale Earnhardt, Davey Allison and Rusty Wallace.Harry "Life Begins at 51" Gant is on the prowl on the NASCAR Winston Cup circuit.Gant isn't making a comeback. He never left. He just hadn't won a lot of races in 19 years. Then, two weeks ago, he started a surge of three consecutive Winston Cup victories.A victory in the Southern 500 in Darlington, S.C., on Sept. 1 again made him the oldest driver to win a Winston Cup race. Before that, though, Gant was 3-for-159 in his latest starts and had won only 11 Winston Cup races in 19 years.

Like any other game, pool has its own peculiar jargon, terms like cutting the ball and banking a shot and running english and jumped ball and balance point and feather shot. But even if you've never slid a pool cue between your fingers, never leaned over an expanse of green felt and been dazzled by the glare of light coming off the nine ball, there's only one term you really need to understand.The hit.In pool, everything comes down to the hit -- not so much the sound of your stick driving into the cue ball and setting off a chain reaction across the felt, but the feel -- the little shock wave that reverberates back through the shaft and up your arm and into your heart and gut and brain all at the same moment.

Along with the Drifters and Jeanette "Baby" Washington came newsman Ernie Boston.Mr. Boston was Baltimore's melodic town crier, on black radio and later on television, from the 1960s through the 1980s. His talent and dedication would eventually carry him to the top editor's job of a black-owned newspaper group in Maryland.Mr. Boston died of congestive heart failure Thursday at his home in Baltimore. He was 59."First, Ernie had great pipes, a beautiful announcer's voice," said Jonathan Compton, a disc jockey known in Baltimore radio as Sir Johnny O. "He was a true gentleman, modest.

ERNIE OHLER is an enthusiastic and capable volunteer with an infectious personality. At the United Way of Central Maryland, where he has volunteered for 12 years, this 82-year-old has a host of admirers who say there's no end to what he can accomplish.During each United Way campaign, Ohler works in the marketing department doing anything to help out, including assisting with community promotions and special events. He draws the plans and builds props and displays for events, and he solicits contributions for the construction materials.

In the coming-of-age story of Eli Manning, the New York Giants quarterback who has led his team to the Super Bowl, there is a great measure of vindication for a football guy with strong ties to Baltimore and someone a lot of us in the sportswriting business have always rooted for. Ernie Accorsi, the former general manager of the Giants, who spent more than a decade with the Baltimore Colts, was the man who engineered the draft-day trade in 2004 that...

Ernie Tyler was buried on a brisk, chilly day at the start of spring training, which seemed only right. One day after Orioles' pitchers and catchers reported to camp in Florida, Tyler -- a lifelong club employee who worked as umpires' attendant -- was laid to rest following a church service attended by Orioles owner Peter Angelos and Hall of Famer Cal Ripken, Jr. Tyler, 86, died Feb. 10 of complications from a brain tumor. Otherwise, he'd have been preparing to work Opening Day for the 51st straight season.

ATLANTA — Ernie Els didn't have to wait long to take his place in the Hall of Fame. The South African headlines the newest induction class announced Wednesday — not only elected in his first year on the ballot but the youngest to enter under the current voting procedure. "It's nice to get in quickly," said Els, whose 57 victories as a professional include two U.S. Opens, the 2002 British Open and this year's Arnold Palmer Invitational and World Golf Championships event.

More than 30 years after playing at Maryland, Ernie Graham was asked Thursday night whether he thought the day would come when his jersey was honored by the school. "Honestly, no," Graham said. On Thursday night, Graham -- who also played for Baltimore's Dunbar --  joined 16 other Terps whose names and numbers appear on banners hanging from the Comcast Center rafters. “It still feels good to be home - finally,” he said. Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake attended the pregame ceremony.

News item: Longtime Orioles umpires attendant Ernie Tyler, who worked for the team for more than a half century and ended his own O's iron-man streak at 3,769 games to attend Cal Ripken Jr. 's Hall of Fame induction, has died at the age of 86. My take: It's hard to express what Ernie meant to the organization and everyone who worked regularly at Memorial Stadium or Camden Yards. He was a truly fine gentleman who was as kind and good-hearted as anyone I have ever met — and not just in the baseball business.