Ken Harrelson - Catchphrases, Criticism and Nicknames

Catchphrases, Criticism and Nicknames

Harrelson is known for his homerism and catchphrases, also known as "Hawkisms". Popular "Hawkisms" include: "You can put it on the board! Yes! Yes!" after a Sox home run, "He gone!" and/or "Grab some bench!" after a strikeout of an opposing player, "Stretch!" when a White Sox player hits a ball that is moving towards the outfield fence. Hawk often states "Sacks packed with Sox", when the bases are loaded. When the telecast begins, Hawk always says "Sit back. Relax and strap it down." to the viewers, right before commercial break before the first pitch. Harrelson refers to the White Sox as "the good guys" (based on the team's mid-1990s slogan Good Guys Wear Black). When a White Sox player hits a ball which appears to be heading foul, Harrelson often states "Stay fair!". Hawk will state "Dagummet" when a ball that looks to be a home-run is caught short of the wall or in general when a play does not go the White Sox way. When a hitter hits a long foul ball that would have been a home run if it were fair, Hawk will say "right size, wrong shape." For a time Hawk often stated "Hell Yes" after an advantageous event for the White Sox occurs. While he insists that exclaiming "hell yes!" is not contrived and is a product of his devotion to the White Sox, it has generated some controversy. He is also known for shouting out "Mercy!" after a great defensive play is executed by a player or players and sometimes, when it is an exceptionally great play, or the play does not go the White Sox way, he will also exclaim "You gotta be...bleeping me!" When a batter swings and misses he will proclaim, "big hack, no contact." Harrelson refers to a routine flyball as a "can of corn." Hawk also calls bloop hits that land between fielders, "duck snorts." He refers to a two hop infield ground ball as a "chopper-two-hopper." He calls a hard hit ground ball that takes a favorable bounce up for the fielder a "Bolingbrook Bounce." He refers to any play with a broken bat as a "Matt Abbatacola." Matt Abbatacola is a local sports radio show host and producer for AM 670 TheScore, who carry the White Sox radio broadcasts. The two met during spring training a few years ago, and Hawk decided to use his name during broken bat plays because of the distinctiveness and sound of his name. When a White Sox rally starts, Hawk Harrelson will often enthusiastically say "Don't Stop Now Boys." In July 2010, GQ named Harrelson the worst announcer in baseball. He has stated publicly that he wants to die in the booth during a game and that he will never, ever retire.

Though Harrelson has been criticized for his repeated use of catchphrases and hometown allegiances, his popularity with White Sox fans is demonstrable. Harrelson was nominated for the 2007 Ford C. Frick award (won by Royals announcer Denny Matthews), and his presence in the field of nominees for that award was due to the support of fans, who placed him in nomination (along with Cincinnati announcer Joe Nuxhall and San Francisco/Oakland announcer Bill King) via an online vote.

Hawk is also well known for his strong on-air criticisms of umpires. Harrelson appears to have developed a dislike of umpire Joe West, who "in the past few years, has had some problems with the White Sox." West had started a game the night before, but called it due to rain after about a half inning of play. In a game earlier that year, West had ejected Ozzie Guillén and Mark Buehrle for two separate balks in the same game.

Following an on air outburst about umpire Mark Wegner during a game on May 30, 2012, Harrelson received a reprimand from MLB commissioner Bud Selig. Harrelson's comments followed Wegner's ejection of White Sox rookie pitcher José Quintana for throwing a pitch behind Ben Zobrist. After White Sox manager Robin Ventura's ejection for arguing the call, Harrelson commented: "I'll tell you what, they have got to start making guys be accountable. That is totally absurd. Here's an umpire in the American League that knows nothing about the game of baseball. They have got to do something about this. They have got some guys in this league that have no business umpiring. They have no business umpiring because they don't know what the game of baseball is about." Although Harrelson said that such a tirade would not happen again, later in the same season he lashed out at umpire Lance Barrett following the ejections of A. J. Pierzynski and Ventura. Harrelson stated that "Lance Barrett has just stunk the joint up is all he's done. That's all he's done." He also claimed that "Everything that (Mariners pitcher) Blake Beavan has thrown up there that (catcher Miguel) Olivo has caught has been a strike. If he caught it, it was a strike. He's got two different strike zones. He's got a two-foot for Beavan, and he's got a 10-inch for the White Sox. What does that tell you?"

Harrelson's emotive and particularly distinctive call of Mark Buehrle's perfect game on July 23, 2009 was also notable. As Buehrle exited the field after the eighth inning, he exclaimed, "Call your sons! Call your daughters! Call your friends! Call your neighbors! Mark Buehrle has a perfect game going into the ninth!" Also, as the final ground ball of the game rolled towards the White Sox shortstop Alexei Ramírez, Harrelson called out "Alexei?!" (Harrelson often refers to the White Sox players by their first names.) As Ramirez completed the throw to the first baseman Josh Fields, Harrelson shouted "Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! History!"

Though some did not like Harrelson's lack of verbosity and obvious hometown boosterism at the concluding moment of the game, others felt the outburst of emotion captured exactly what they were feeling as the perfect game was sealed. A Chicago Tribune columnist, Phil Rosenthal, arguing that each perfect game call is "memorable in its own way", made an explicit comparison of Harrelson's call to Vin Scully's call of Sandy Koufax's perfect game.

Harrelson had a special on CSN Chicago called Put it on The Board which aired on Monday, June 7, 2010 at 9:30pm CT that lasted 30 minutes celebrating his 25 years as a Chicago White Sox broadcaster with memorable footage, memorable quotes and an interview with CSN Chicago's Chuck Garfien. Ken said during the interview "I hope to be broadcasting for the White Sox until I die." He joked and said how he was going to die: in the White Sox broadcasting booth with his last words, "You can put it on the booooard... (dies without finishing)" Harrelson was honored with "Hawk Harrelson Night" by the Chicago White Sox for 25 years of broadcasting that was on Tuesday, June 8, 2010 vs. Detroit Tigers. The White Sox had a t-shirt giveaway for Harrelson for the first 10,000 fans that came to the game. The t-shirt has the White Sox logo on the front and in big letters on the back "Hawkism" with his famous catchphrases on the back also. Harrelson also threw out the ceremonial first pitch before the game to White Sox manager Ozzie Guillén.

As a man long-known for creating nicknames, his own nickname "Hawk" originated during his early playing days. Teammates began calling him "Hawk" due to his curvy, pointy nose. Harrelson coined many nicknames for popular Sox players, including "Black Jack" McDowell, Carlos "El Caballo" Lee, Lance "One Dog" Johnson, Frank "The Big Hurt" Thomas, Craig "Little Hurt" Grebeck, "The Deacon" Warren Newson, "Big Bad" Bobby Jenks, "The Silent Assassin" Javier Vázquez, Herbert "the Milkman" Perry, Jake "The Jake-Meister" Peavy, Dayán "The Tank" Viciedo, Willie "Peapod" Harris, and Magglio "Maggs" Ordóñez, along with fan favorite "Big Dick" Richard Dotson. During a broadcast, Harrelson attempted to nickname partner Darrin Jackson "The Squirrel" because of the quantity of peanuts his partner ate, to which Jackson replied, "No." He calls his current partner Steve Stone "Stone Pony." It is unclear if that nickname is a reference to the popular music venue or the Linda Ronstadt band of the same name. Recently, he began calling White Sox slugger Adam Dunn "Biggin". "Biggin" is a Southern slang term for large people, which reflects Hawk's Deep South roots. Dunn is 6'6" and 285 pounds.

An informal study by one baseball columnist, based on the number of home-team "biased" comments throughout the course of a game, concluded that Harrelson was by a wide margin the broadcaster who openly rooted for his team the most often. He embraced the results, responding, "That's the biggest compliment you could give me, to call me the biggest homer in baseball."