TBS has brought in a heavy hitter to promote its postseason baseball coverage.

Ladies and gentleman, Mr. Bruce Springsteen.

I covered the White Sox for three years in the late 80s. I spent a lot of time around Jerry Reinsdorf. I always found him interesting and extremely candid.

Nothing has changed on both fronts more than 25 years later.

I was driving in the car Saturday morning and heard the Sox owner on Talkin’ Baseball with Bruce Levine and Fred Huebner on WMVP-AM 1000.

The subject of Ken Harrelson’s broadcast style came up. Friday, he nearly fell out of the booth calling Jordan Danks’ walk-off homer.

As usual, Reinsdorf spoke with complete candor.

In fact, Reinsdorf said if it was up to him, Harrelson probably would have a much different approach to the Sox broadcasts.

From Reinsdorf:

(Harrelson is) a homer. There are a lot of people who don’t like that style of broadcasting. When I grew up in New York, there were no homers. We had Mel Allen and Red Barber. They played it straight down the middle.

I came to Chicago in 1957. I heard Jack Quinlan and Jack Brickhouse rooting for their teams. I thought that was awful, absolutely awful. There were a lot of people in Chicago who didn’t root for the local teams.

I remember saying to myself, ‘If I had the opportunity (to own a team), I would not have a homer in the booth.’

Reinsdorf did buy the Sox in 1981 and was subjected to one of the game’s great homers, Harry Caray, for a season. He eventually let Caray go to the Cubs after the season, a decision that’s still a matter of great debate in Chicago.

Reinsdorf continues:

We hired Don Drysdale and Ken Harrelson in 1982. We said, ‘We don’t want homerism. We want you to play this right down the middle, a network-quality broadcast.’

Our fans absolutely hated that. Chicago fans want their announcers to root for their teams.

I unleashed them. I said, ‘Go ahead and root.’

If it were up to me, there wouldn’t be homerism. It’s not up to me. It’s up to the fans and they get what they want.

Reinsdorf, though, somewhat compromises his argument when he brings up watching games on MLB’s Extra Innings package.

Reinsdorf said:

Most of those broadcasts are boring. They don’t have any exciting personalities at all.

Boring? Again appreciate the candor, Jerry.

I have to agree with him. There are a lot of dull telecasts out there.

But Jerry, doesn’t Hawk’s unique style make him more interesting? Would he be as compelling if he played it straight? I don’t think so.

You can say plenty about Harrelson, but nobody will ever call him dull.

If you’re a White Sox fan like me, there’s nothing better than hearing Ken “Hawk” Harrelson call a walk-off homer.

I found vintage footage of Ron Santo doing a commercial for Snickers in 1969. Santo concealed the fact that he suffered from diabetes until late in his playing career.

If his condition had been known at the time, he probably doesn’t do an ad for candy bar full of sugar. Hopefully, Santo didn’t have to eat too many Snickers during shooting.

And here’s a video set to music that has highlights of Santo’s career.

It’s a bittersweet weekend in Chicago.

In a cruel twist of fate, Ron Santo didn’t live long enough to witness his induction into the Hall of Fame Sunday. But as a good friend of mine and Santo’s says: “His grandchildren deserve to see his plaque in Cooperstown.”

An updated version of This Old Cub will air Saturday at 1 p.m. (ET) on the MLB Network. The documentary, originally done by his son Jeff, will include Santo’s statue dedication at Wrigley Field in August 2011; his Hall of Fame election on December 5, 2011; and excerpts from an interview with Santo and his son, recorded two weeks before Santo’s passing on December 3, 2010.

Here’s the trailer for the original version. It really captures his heart as a player; his drive to overcome two leg amputations; and ultimately why he meant so much to Chicago.

What took so long?

I know Tim McCarver has his share of critics. Some of it is inevitable when you’ve been around as long as he has.

But considering his unprecedented run as baseball’s lead analyst for more than two decades, why it will take until Saturday for him to finally be recognized by the Hall of Fame?

Both McCarver’s partner and Fox Sports vice-chairman Ed Goren had the same reaction: “It’s long overdue.”

Well, better late than never. McCarver’s big day comes Saturday in Cooperstown when he will receive the 2012 Ford C. Frick Award, presented annually for excellence in baseball broadcasting by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

During a conference call, I asked McCarver’s colleagues how they feel about the honor.

Joe Buck:  I’m kind of conflicted. I feel almost more excited for Tim going in than I did for my dad when he went in in 1987.  When you consider the length of time he caught in the big leagues, the pitchers he caught and the excellence on the mound that he received in Gibson, Carlton and many, many others, – the winning, the championships and then jumping right into the booth and broadcasting all these World Series and all these All-Star Games, it’s well received.

His overall contribution to the game is unmatched by anybody in that Hall of Fame. It’s different to when my dad went in. I mean, my dad went in because he was a great voice of the game. Tim has done it all, and I think it is overdue. It is so deserved and I am proud of him. I’m proud because of the work he puts in every week and I can tell you, as his partner, when I started in 1996 as a 27-year-old doing the World Series, I was scared to death.

When I had him sitting to my right and I had him seconding an opinion of mine, it gave me instant credibility. I owe him a lot and I’ll be there, the proudest one there not at the podium when he goes in on Saturday.”

Ed Goren: This honor is way overdue and in talking to others who have worked with Tim, three people stand out applauding this honor: Al Michaels, Bob Costas, and Tony Kubek. It’s long overdue, and we are thrilled.

Judging from the preview, this looks to be a powerful documentary.

From MLB Network:

Marking the ten-year anniversary of his passing, MLB Network will premiere The Life and Death of Darryl Kile, an hour-long documentary about former St. Louis Cardinals, Houston Astros and Colorado Rockies pitcher Darryl Kile, on Thursday, July 12 at 9:00 p.m. ET. Kile died of a heart attack at age 33 prior to a game between the Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on June 22, 2002. Narrated by Bob Costas, The Life and Death of Darryl Kile looks back at Kile’s All-Star career, his reputation as a great teammate and family man, and how his death impacted the Cardinals’ play throughout the rest of the 2002 season.

The documentary features Kile’s former Houston Astros teammate Jeff Bagwell and former Cardinals teammate Mike Matheny talking about Kile for the first time on-camera since the initial days after his death in 2002. Speaking about Kile’s personality, Bagwell said, “He was a great father, great husband, great guy, [and] cared about people. That’s what I want to be in my life…That’s who I want to be and that’s who Darryl Kile was.”

Other exclusive interviews are featured with former Cardinals manager Tony La Russa and general manager Walt Jocketty; Kile’s former Astros teammates Brad Ausmus, Craig Biggio and Phil Nevin; former Colorado Rockies manager Jim Leyland; Kile’s teammate with all three teams, Dave Veres; former Cubs catcher Joe Girardi; former Cardinals broadcaster Joe Buck; San Francisco Giants broadcaster Jon Miller; and St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Bernie Miklasz, all of whom discuss their reactions to Kile’s death and their memories of Kile as a teammate and family man. In discussing how Kile’s death affected the Cardinals’ play on the field, Jocketty said “One of the ironic things I’ve thought about is when he died, we had 40 wins. We ended up with 97.  That’s 57, which is his uniform number.  That’s pretty amazing.”

The documentary also includes new interviews with members of the Cardinals staff who were with the team in Chicago on the day Kile died, including Traveling Secretary C.J. Cherre, Resident Security Agent Tony Wagner, and Director of Security Joe Walsh.  MLB Network aired an excerpt of the The Life and Death of Darryl Kile on June 22, the ten-year anniversary of his passing, which can you view here. 

Kile won 133 games over 12 years in MLB and was named to three National League All-Star teams (1993, 1997 & 2000). Kile started his career with the Astros, where he spent seven seasons (1991-1997), and also threw a no-hitter against the New York Mets on September 8, 1993. Kile went on to play for two years with the Rockies (1998-1999) before playing his final three seasons (2000-2002) for the Cardinals. Following his passing in 2002, St. Louis won the NL Central Division title. Since Kile’s death, no other Cardinals player has worn uniform number 57.

Highlights from the documentary include:

 On Kile’s legacy:

Mike Matheny: To me, he was the kind of person that made people around him better.  Yes, everybody wants to win, but you just see very few people that go out of their way to invest in other people and Darryl Kile was one of those.

Tony La Russa: He’s literally too good to be true.  And you had to keep saying, “Was he really as great as we thought he was?”  And the answer was yes…I’ll repeat it until the time you take the [microphone] away. He was so perfect it was not to be believed, but believe it.

Craig Biggio: I hit a home run off him and I remember running around the bases and I remember someone yelling at me, cursing at me, as I’m running around the bases…Then, [Jeff Bagwell] hit, came back later on, and he goes, “Man, did you hear Darryl yelling at you?”  I go, “That was him?  That was Darryl?”…So, season’s over, it’s like two weeks before Christmas and I get a phone call.  It was Darryl.  He goes, “Hey, I want to apologize.”  [I said], “What are you apologizing for?”  He goes, “I want to apologize.  I should’ve never cursed at you, yelled at you.”…He goes, “I should’ve never have done that. You treated me so nicely when I was in Houston.  It helped me when I was a younger player.  You were always there for me.”   And that’s the type of person that Darryl was.

On learning of Kile’s death:

Jeff Bagwell: I just laid on the ground and cried.  It was tough.  It’s still tough.

Matheny: I know that I escaped to a small part of the corner in the trainer’s room. I remember throwing a few things around. I remember looking around the clubhouse at times and seeing people just stuck in a spot.

Walt Jocketty: As you train for this position there is a lot of things you train for but you never train for a player’s death, especially like this.

La Russa on telling the Cardinals players:

The guys knew that there was a serious issue here.  When I walked out there, I think at that point, virtually everybody was fearing the worst, and I went out there and confirmed it.  Just the magnitude of the sadness, the devastation was beyond normal.  Normal would be really, really bad.  This was savage, brutal because [of] who he was, all that it meant to the family, our team, losing a friend. It was brutal.

Joe Girardi on making the announcement at Wrigley Field that the game was cancelled:

I remember it was almost like yesterday.  It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in the game.  It was harder than taking my uniform off for the last time.

Girardi on playing the Cardinals the day after Kile died:

I kept saying to myself, “I can’t believe we’re playing this game.”  I would watch each player walk up to hit and you could see the devastation and you could see them kind of in a daze.  You’re thinking, “Why are we playing this game?”  I just thought it was too soon.

La Russa on the Cardinals’ initial struggle after Kile’s death:

Our club was so devastated that they were just doing a little bit more than going through the motions.  We went through a period of games where the thing that we pride ourselves on the most – this intense competition –  wasn’t important.  Just get through it.

On the Cardinals’ play after Kile’s death:

Matheny: We were motivated.  We knew we were good first.  Then, we thought too, what a great tribute to Darryl, what a great tribute to him and his family for us to go out and keep playing the game the right way.  All of us thought about him frequently…I think all of us dug a little deeper and realized we had a great chance to do something special.

Jocketty: One of the ironic things I’ve thought about is when he died, we had 40 wins.  We ended up with 97.  That’s 57, which is his uniform number.  That’s pretty amazing.

La Russa: I was certain that this club was going to be rewarded with a World Series appearance.  When the Giants beat us in five [in the NLCS], to this day, I was the most disappointed ever…The good thing was, that team made it a point to just dedicate what we were doing…We just played our butts off and ended up making it happen.  They were courageous, heroic.  It was wonderful.  That club made it a commitment to honor Darryl’s memory.