Good timing.
During a conversation with Brian Kenny today, I asked about Ken Harrelson’s recent comments about him and his view of sabermetrics.
“Well, it just so happens that Hawk is going to be on the show tomorrow,” Kenny said.
Indeed, the White Sox play-by-play voice is set to be a guest on MLB Now Thursday at 4 p.m. ET on MLB Network. It definitely will be a lively discussion between Harrelson, Kenny and the show’s co-host Harold Reynolds.
To review, Harrelson said during a Sox game:
“You know, sabermetrics in my opinion, in the last decade, the last ten years, has been the most overrated thing to come into baseball. And it’s got a lot of people fired because it didn’t work.”
Kenny, whose baseball work is firmly grounded in sabermetrics, gave a strong response on his show. He said Harrelson “missed the revolution.”
Kenny issued an invitation for Harrelson to appear as a guest. Harrelson, who said he likes Kenny’s work, took him up on it.
Wednesday, Kenny returned the praise for Harrelson, saying he enjoys him as a play-by-play man. However, his view of sabermetrics is another story.
“I’m puzzled as to why he says those things, and why so many other people his age in baseball say those things,” Kenny said.
Kenny sounded as if he might make his case by referring to Harrelson’s career year in 1968. Harrelson hit .275 with 35 homers and a league-leading 109 RBIs with Boston. The stats are even more impressive considering it was the year of the pitcher.
“He had a .356 on-base in 1968,” Kenny said. “That’s pretty good, but I bet you that’s way above the league average for that year. And he slugged .518. If you slug .518 in 1998 (during the power crazy steroid era), you’re not catching a whiff of the All-Star game. You slug .518 in 1968, you’re one of the top players in all of baseball, which he was. All of those things are sabermetric thinking and principles, and you go from there.
“There’s nothing overrated about it. It’s wanting to know more and putting things in proper context to where you can pinpoint a perfect year in his career. The more you know, the more you like him in 1968.”
I’m probably the only Cub fan in existence who enjoys Hawk’s play-by-play work. I find him very into each game, entertaining and an easy listen. But then, I only get to hear him 8-12 times a year.
His views on sabremetrics are Neanderthalic, but I wonder what greats like Harry Caray and Jack Buck would’ve thought about the subject.
Talking about sabermetrics with Hawk will be like trying to teach advanced calculus to a cow. Good luck with that, Brian.
I’m a lifelong White Sox fan and I am embarrassed for Hawk’s illogical thinking. He was one of the worst GM’s in baseball history and his homerism is delusional. The scary thing for Sox fans is he has the ear’s of important executives in the Sox organization so his views on sabermetrics are most likely similar to theirs. He wouldn’t says these thoughts on sabermetrics if this wasn’t similar to what the executives think. Scary for us fans