Hawk praises 'fun club' after tossing 1st pitch

CHICAGO -- Ken "Hawk" Harrelson always was an entertaining and iconic figure on the south side of Chicago as the White Sox television voice for 33 years. Just think about how many people still use phrases he coined such as “You can put it on the board!” or “Mercy!” in everyday life.

But he returned to Guaranteed Rate Field on Wednesday with a Hall of Fame connection as part of his illustrious career, having his 2020 Ford C. Frick Award recognized on July 24 in Cooperstown, N.Y. There was no speech from Harrelson on Wednesday, aside from a pregame on-field interview and then a 15-minute meeting with the media at the start of the White Sox game against the Royals.

There was high praise from the soon-to-be 80-year-old (Sept. 4) for the American League Central-leading White Sox and their manager, Tony La Russa.

“I just have been watching the games and listening to them,” said Harrelson, sitting at a table in the back of the press box also featuring a Harrelson bobblehead being sold for White Sox Charities. “I’ll tell you what, this is a fun club to watch.

“If they can get healthy, then you have to really watch out. The first thing I like is Tony La Russa.”

La Russa and Harrelson go back almost 60 years, with the two playing together as part of the 1963 Kansas City Athletics. Harrelson also was the White Sox general manager who fired La Russa from his first managerial stint with the club in 1986, referencing again on Wednesday how he didn’t fire La Russa because he was a bad manager.

Fences were mended during La Russa’s successful run as the A’s manager, and Harrelson referred to him along with Cleveland’s Terry Francona and Oakland’s Bob Melvin as the game’s three best managers. Harrelson and La Russa had a good talk on the field prior to Harrelson throwing out a ceremonial first pitch to Southpaw, the White Sox mascot.

“I’m so proud of him for having a great career, a Hall of Fame career,” Harrelson said. “Tony is at his best when there is adversity. When there’s adversity, it’s comparable to the managers in those certain times are like a Dad. And the players, the first thing they look at when things are going bad is the manager.

“I don’t care who the player is or who the manager is. I played for a lot of managers and I played with some that when things are going bad, they got scared to death. You could read them like a book. Where Tony is like the iron horse, so to speak. When things get going bad, he turns them around and he keeps these guys. You watch and see: They play their [butt] off. It’s just that simple.”

Two of Harrelson’s grandsons joined him on the field and in the press box. They were part of the strong family contingency with him in Cooperstown, and that group also included members of his White Sox family in chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, former director of broadcasting Bob Grim and Darrin Jackson, his onetime broadcast partner.

Harrelson’s extraordinary legacy will be preserved at the Hall of Fame.

“That's probably my biggest joy is that my grandsons, they'll be able to take their children in. That's why baseball to me is the greatest game going,” Harrelson said. “It's a game of memories, and it's a game of heroes. And I had my heroes.”

“We are an extension of the White Sox family through his family,” said Jackson of being at the Hall of Fame ceremony involving Harrelson. “It just was nice to feel you were a part of all of that. Just one big family. It just reminds me of how close I am to the guy.”