For a play-by-play man calling games for a last-place team (another dreadful defeat last night), this has been the summer of Ken “Hawk” Harrelson.
The Chicago White Sox announcer has sparred with Brian Kenny; had a documentary on his life on MLB Network; and sites like Awful Announcing routinely replay some of his memorable calls.
Now comes a profile of Hawk in the New York Times. Written by Ben Strauss, the piece focuses on his old-school approach to baseball. As we all know, Harrelson isn’t a sabermetrics guy.
Strauss writes:
Harrelson maintains that he does, in fact, like numbers and that sabermetrics does have a valued place in baseball, but that he would prefer it be a role much more limited that it is now and that too much deference is being paid in general to numbers crunching. He called its rise over the last decade “the biggest joke I’ve ever seen.”
“Look down there at a guy like Gordon Beckham,” he said, peering down at the White Sox’ second baseman. “If you got someone who gets a chance to take him out on a double play — like me — I’m not going to take him out, I’m going to take him out into left field.
“So if the shortstop bobbles the ball, and I have a chance to get him, he knows that. Gordon will get busted and he’ll take the hit. There’s no number to define that in a player.”
Then there’s this passage that includes a quote from Bob Costas:
It should be noted that Joe Morgan, a far more prominent announcer than Harrelson when he did commentary for ESPN’s Sunday night baseball broadcasts, was also a critic of the sabermetrics movement and received flak for his stance.
Harrelson, in a local market rather than on a national stage, and with his image as a character firmly established, can probably coast along with his anti-statistics stance easier than Morgan could.
“I can get away with things most announcers can’t,” he acknowledged.
And that, said Bob Costas, a veteran sports voice who is most identified with his work in baseball, is not necessarily a bad thing.
“If I’m listening to the White Sox play the Indians, I’m listening for Hawk to tell a great story about Charlie Finley,” said Costas, who narrated an MLB Network documentary about Harrelson. “Or the time he was sitting with Mickey Mantle at an L.A. hotel and Marlon Brando walks in.
“If a guy doesn’t know what WAR is but he’s got good baseball war stories, I’ll take the trade-off.”
OK what’s next for Hawk. His own reality series?
Harrelson is the biggest bag of wind I’ve ever listened to . I’m 68 around the same age who the hell cares about his stories from yesteryear anymore . Get tired of hearing him complain all the time about the umps ! If he knows so much how did he only lasted 1 year as GM !
Where’s Steve Stone been? Hiding from the Hawkeroo again?
Look, Harrelson hasn’t been very good in the booth since Drysdale left. He knows nothing about the players and rarely talks strategy. His stories are ok, but he sure cannot weave a tale like Vince Scully does.
Bottom line: the White Sox announcers make it a challenge to listen to on both radio and television. Thank goodness I’m fortunate to be able to afford the out-of-town broadcasters on MLB.com. For a major market city, the Sox have minor league announcers. Theeeee worst announcers in baseball. You can put it on the board, YES!
A great insight Big Al ! Stone is the only one worth listening to . I don’t there is much love lost between him and the windbag !