The Passion of the Hawk

[southsider2k5]

The contrasts are stunning and they are telling.

 

There is the Ken Harrelson who sits in the quiet of a pregame broadcast booth near tears describing the beauty of watching the birth of his first grandson three months ago and the vision of Aris, his wife of 31 years, cradling the baby for the first time.

 

And then there is "Hawk" on the air hours later, taking some unnamed media members to task for what he calls a lack of knowledge about a game he says he still has not learned after 49 years as a player, general manager and broadcaster.

 

It is the same passion the voice of the White Sox takes to the golf course Thursday, swiping away at a bucket of balls in the early-morning mist, pausing to hammer home a point or finish a story or to speak again wistfully about a love for baseball he says now is stronger than it ever has been.

 

Before he finds out that his brief diatribe the previous night would inspire enough wrath to keep three sports talk shows going on this day, he grades the broadcast of a game the White Sox won 4-0 behind a masterful pitching performance by Esteban Loaiza.

 

"Doing television is no different than playing," the 62-year-old Harrelson says. "Going home that night, you know if you played a great game or you stunk. But [Wednesday] night, I told Aris, 'Loaiza put on one hell of a broadcast.'"

 

His assessment gets right to the heart of Harrelson and his well-honed philosophy of a craft that, after the better part of two decades, has earned him the right to be considered a Chicago institution.

 

Wednesday night's broadcast was everything Hawk—the pointed criticism, the well-timed silence, the rhythm and repartee between him and his 40-year-old partner, Darrin Jackson. After spending a lifetime developing a reputation as one of the more colorful and outspoken characters in the game, he has discovered that often silence says it best.

 

Silence is golden

 

It is almost unconscionable to a man who probably can go days telling stories without catching a breath that the trend of network baseball has endless blather and screaming graphics.

 

"There is nothing worse than an announcer taking over one of the four or five precious moments of the game," he says. "Don't give me Baseball 101. The fan is seeing the same game I am. I want you to use your imagination. I want you to be thinking. I like to think we have some of the most sophisticated fans in baseball. When Esteban Loaiza is pitching a beautiful game, it's our job to get out of his way and let our fans enjoy the moment.

 

"Fox wants the 16-to-24-year-old [demographic], but what about the rest of them? What about the fans [of] 20, 30, 40 years? You going to kick them in the [butt] because you want bells and whistles and swooshes? There's not a minute of dead air on those telecasts. Baseball demands dead air."

 

After this season, Harrelson will have four years remaining on his contract, which would put him at 67 years old when it expires and seemingly ready to return to his home in Orlando with Aris for a retirement stuffed full of more family and more golf. Except for one thing.

 

"I'll never retire," Harrelson says. "This is too good a life to be blessed with to give it up. I've only taken one year off in my adult life (1989). I decided I wanted to improve my father-son relationship with Casey (then 11) and my father-daughter relationship with Krista (then 13). So I'd take them to school every morning and had barbecues every night and that was fantastic. I also played golf every day and it got very old, very quick.

 

"That's when I decided retirement is not for me as long as I have my health. Plus, I'm in love with baseball, more now than I have ever been. It's an absolutely amazing game and the longer I'm in it, I realize how much more there is to learn."

 

He, however, does know one thing for sure, and it is that he has found his true calling.

 

"No question," he says when asked if he wants to be thought of as a Sox institution. "When I think in terms of my life, I don't think of my career as a player, I think of my career as a broadcaster."

 

Harrelson was actually a basketball player first as well as a football player in Savannah, Ga., who received a scholarship offer to play both at the University of Georgia before accepting a $30,000 bonus to join the Kansas City Athletics organization.

 

He would play nine years in the big leagues and became baseball's first unofficial free agent when he signed a $150,000 bonus midseason with the Red Sox in '67 after his release from Kansas City because he angered owner Charlie Finley when he publicly denounced the firing of manager Alvin Dark.

 

Harrelson helped lead the Red Sox to the American League pennant in '67, then hit 35 home runs and drove in 109 runs in '68 before being traded to Cleveland, a move that so enraged Boston fans that many picketed Fenway Park.

 

A broken leg hastened the end of Harrelson's playing career in '71, but not before he tried his hand as a TV variety show host in Boston and a 3½-year stint on the PGA tour he described as "the worst job in my life."

 

A broadcasting job with the Red Sox and several network gigs followed before new owners Jerry Reinsdorf and Eddie Einhorn hired him in 1982 to join play-by-play man Don Drysdale in the Sox television booth.

 

Uneasy transition

 

Four years later, Harrelson took a $240,000 pay cut to become the team's general manager, a one-year stint that both Harrelson and Reinsdorf agree was dismal.

 

"Eddie and I would talk to Hawk and Drysdale at length, and Hawk more so, to identify problems in the organization," Reinsdorf said. "We were still neophytes in this business and we were impressed with the way Hawk pointed out our problems. [GM] wasn't something he really wanted him to do, but we urged him to help us out.

 

"The mistake was that when you go to a doctor who diagnoses open-heart surgery, you don't have him do the surgery because he diagnosed the problem, you get a heart surgeon. Just because Hawk was able to diagnose our problems did not mean he could solve them. It was a terrible position to put him in, and a year later, he said he wanted out."

 

Harrelson, whose signature moment as GM came when he fired manager Tony La Russa over philosophical differences, said he knew he had to get out when the pressure got to his children in the schoolyard and he soon accepted a job with the Yankees' broadcast team.

 

"We knew we couldn't put him right back in our booth," Reinsdorf says. "None of us thought that would fly. But it was always my intention after a suitable cooling off period to get Hawk back."

 

Harrelson, who returned to the Sox booth in 1990, says he has turned down two GM jobs and one managerial offer since '86, preferring to watch the Sox from above, despite drawing almost as much scrutiny.

 

After a 10-year-partnership with Tom Paciorek ended somewhat mysteriously with Paciorek's resignation, there was speculation that Harrelson hastened the move.

 

"It was a wonderful 10 years with Wimpy," Harrelson says. "And I've been saddened since he quit with the perception that I had him fired."

 

During a break in a broadcast after Harrelson had praised Michael Jordan effusively as a golf partner on-air, Paciorek made an off-air comment chiding him over it. It was overheard by enough bystanders that it was not hard to see how the stories of discontent spread.

 

"But that's not even close to the truth," Harrelson says of Paciorek's departure for personal reasons.

 

One night in Tampa Bay a few years later, Jackson responded sarcastically—and kiddingly—to a comment Harrelson made about a player with, "Why don't you say something different?"

 

"Then the ball was hit and Hawk did the play-by-play and we never came back to it and never thought anything of it," Jackson recalls. "The next day the public relations guy said, 'How do you want to handle that?' I said, 'Handle what?' He said, 'Apparently, it's a big thing in Chicago.'"

 

Both shrug. As Harrelson likes to say, "It is what it is."

 

One thing is certain—it's not going to drive him away. Thursday night, Aris Harrelson was bothered by the radio criticism and the supposition that Harrelson was insulting to fans.

 

"I have never seen a person, especially an athlete, with less ego, and I say that with all honestly," she says.

 

Harrelson says he knows he shouldn't get drawn in but he can't help himself. On Thursday from his car, he called the radio station that was criticizing him to respond. On Thursday night, he aimed another zinger on-air. Dead air apparently only goes so far.

 

And somehow with Harrelson, the adage "Stay tuned," never seemed more appropriate.

[The Critic]

In a lot of ways, Harrellson really does personify Sox fans.

He cares VERY deeply about the White Sox, and speaks from his heart.

He also harbors silly grudges that he should be above, like a lot of Sox fans do.

 

I'm not always crazy about his broadcasting style, but there can be NO doubt that he loves the White Sox. And that makes him OK by me.

[Kid Gleason]

That's a GREAT article! It came from the Tribune? Wow, they actually bring Hawk through in a cool way, and explain quite a bit about him. How can you argue with his silence during the games when he explains it like that?

[greasywheels121]

Good read. I know Hawk isn't liked by EVERY Sox fan; however, he is a great part of this team IMO. It's going to be really weird to watch the games when Hawk decides to step down, which hopefully isn't any time soon.

[SnB]

We have an announcer on our team that truly cares about the team he covers. You can't say that about most. I love hawk.

[southsider2k5]

We have an announcer on our team that truly cares about the team he covers.  You can't say that about most.  I love hawk.

And the article is dead on right when they say no one cares more about this team than Hawk does, and he is a perfect represenative for this team. He might not be the best in the game, but he has more passion than any corporate cut out, or ex-player I have ever heard.

[BobDylan]

Can somebody find the picture of Hawk that was on the front page? That picture was priceless...

[AngelasDaddy0427]

HAWK IS THE MAN!

LONG LIVE HAWK!

[Jordan4life_2007]

I can't imagine watching a White Sox game on tv without the, HAWK. I love the guy.

[EvilMonkey]

Hawk is what I want my broadcaster to be, a fan of the team, a fan of the sport and not afraid to wear his heart on his sleeve. You can also tell you have beenlistening to Hawk for a long time when Hawkisms start entering your daily conversations. I have found myself saying 'I love it when you analyze', or 'stretch!' onmore than one occasion. Get funny looks when the people around are not Sox fans.

[BrandoFan]

Big Hawk fan here for reasons mentioned elsewhere.

 

Hated the way he allowed himself to be baited by Mariotti and Co. Hawk really should know better - or at least call in with better ammunition than "Even Roger Bossard himself said that last April and May, we've had the worst weather he's ever seen..." malarkey that frankly smacks of desperation and of protesting too much.

 

I have no idea why he brought Berstein into it - Dan not only knows a LOT about baseball, but is a huge Sox fan who should be called the real "Cub Killer" because he is absolutely merciless in dismantling Flubia bulls***, from Sammy's egomania to ticket scalping to moronic fandom to hiding the injuries, to Santo, etc, etc, etc.

[marsh]

Big Hawk fan here for reasons mentioned elsewhere.

 

Hated the way he allowed himself to be baited by Mariotti and Co.  Hawk really should know better - or at least call in with better ammunition than "Even Roger Bossard himself said that last April and May, we've had the worst weather he's ever seen..." malarkey that frankly smacks of desperation and of protesting too much.   

 

I have no idea why he brought Berstein into it - Dan not only knows a LOT about baseball, but is a huge Sox fan who should be called the real "Cub Killer" because he is absolutely merciless in dismantling Flubia bulls***, from Sammy's egomania to ticket scalping to moronic fandom to hiding the injuries, to Santo, etc, etc, etc.

guilty by association i guess.

 

i don't get it either.

 

i did get a good laugh when he named mike north and doug buffone as examples of knowledgable baseball guys. north, i'll give him some latitude with, but buffone? lmao.

[BrandoFan]

guilty by association i guess.

 

i don't get it either.

 

i did get a good laugh when he named mike north and doug buffone as examples of knowledgable baseball guys. north, i'll give him some latitude with, but buffone? lmao.

Bernstein is too smart, irreverent and goofy for most people's taste, and Hawk is no exception.

 

Mike North = shame on Chicago

[southsider2k5]

Reading the Trib today, of course they only published letters from the people who had to rip on Hawk. :headshake I guess they had to even it up for doing a fluff piece on a Sox player. We should all email them and tell them what we think.