DETROIT ? Ernie Harwell said he only wanted to do his job, but he has meant far more than that to several generations of Detroit Tiger fans.

“I’m overwhelmed by all of the attention,” the Tigers’ Hall of Fame radio announcer said Sunday after he called his last game in Detroit.

“I always looked at myself as just a worker and it’s hard for me to comprehend all of the attention,” he said.

The announced crowd of 23,930 paid homage to the work of Harwell, who will retire after 42 seasons with the team and 55 seasons of calling major league games.

Fans gave the 84-year-old Harwell a tremendous ovation, which featured chants of “Ernie! Ernie! Ernie!” during the seventh-inning stretch of the Tigers’ 4-3 loss to the New York Yankees.

Since the All-Star break, there has been a video tribute to Harwell by different people during the seventh-inning stretch.

On Sunday, it came from Harwell’s wife of 61 years, Lulu Harwell.

And after the game, there was an on-field ceremony in which the Tigers presented Harwell with Comerica Park’s home plate and a plaque announcing that the stadium’s press box will be officially dubbed “The Ernie Harwell Media Center” at the beginning of the 2003 season.

The Tigers honored their radio voice with Ernie Harwell Day on Sept. 15 at Comerica Park.