CHICAGO -- Ken “Hawk” Harrelson has been out of the White Sox television broadcast booth since Sept. 24, 2018, when he retired after 33 entertaining seasons as the voice of the team.

But the 2020 Ford C. Frick Award winner, who is employed as a team ambassador, still misses the game.

“Sure I miss it,” Harrelson told MLB.com during a recent phone interview. “I have the MLB app and I stay in touch with it.

“I love the game today more than I ever have. It’s been interesting for me to see the change in the game. All these athletes today are bigger, stronger, faster.”

Harrelson introduced broadcast phrases such as “Mercy,” and “You can put it on the board! Yes,” which have become part of fans’ everyday vernacular outside of baseball. He also made player nicknames such as “Big Hurt” for Frank Thomas or “1 Dog” for Lance Johnson popular among fans.

Over parts of eight decades involved with the sport, Harrelson also has developed a deep knowledge about all things baseball. Here are some of the sentiments he shared in this conversation.

On Al Michaels, 2021 Ford C. Frick Award winner
“Al should have been in there a long time ago. You take Al Michaels and Bob Costas, and they are two of the greatest comprehensive announcers we’ve ever had. Costas could do it all -- football, basketball, baseball. And he endeared himself to all America and around the world with the Olympics.

“Michaels has just been a great announcer. He really has. I talked to him the other day and said, 'This has been too long in coming.' Al is a great guy and certainly a great announcer. I’m so happy for him.”

On being part of the 2021 Hall of Fame ceremony after ’20 was postponed
“They called me last year and asked me what I thought about it, and I told them I’m not bringing my family because of the COVID. So that’s going to determine everything, because with Derek Jeter going in, there’s going to be 100,000 people. They will break the all-time record, and justifiably so.”

On Jeter getting his Hall of Fame honor
“Derek Jeter is one of my all-time favorite people. He was at the right place, he had the right stage, and he was the right person to be a great ambassador for baseball. The three greatest ambassadors in my opinion, in my career, all of parts of eight decades, have been Tommy Lasorda, Bob Uecker and Derek Jeter. Oh man, those guys have represented the game. It’s just unbelievable.”

On White Sox managerial change from Rick Renteria to Tony La Russa
“Rick did a good job with what he had. If we had Lance Lynn on our ballclub, we may have won the World Series last year. And when they decided to let Rick go -- I know the players loved him, I loved him.

“Did he make some mistakes with pitching that other people thought? I don’t look at it that way because you’ve got to be in that dugout, and you’ve got to see what’s going on when you call for somebody out of that bullpen. You have to look him in the eyes and see if they are going to spit it out or not.

“They decided to make the change and one of the guys from the White Sox called me the day they let him go and he said, ‘Who do you think [White Sox chairman] Jerry [Reinsdorf] is going after?’ I said there’s no question in my mind, I told my wife, he’s going after Tony La Russa. I know Jerry.

“I was so happy. I loved it. I really did. I called Tony when he still hadn’t agreed yet and I told him, ‘Tony, you gotta come. You gotta come.’ We talked for about 15 or 20 minutes. Then we talked again either the next day or the day after, and he said, ‘Even [Jim] Leyland suggested I take the job.’”

On the 2021 White Sox
“Jerry loves Tony like a brother. So it’s his ballclub, and he spent a bunch of money loading up. ... He’s going to make sure that Tony has a great shot.

“Tony even said it’s very seldom in the history of the game that a manager is walking into a job with this much talent. It’s the truth. There’s not a team in the American League, on the field I’m talking about, with more talent than we’ve got.”

On his health at 79
“There’s a difference in being 79. There are some guys who are 79 going on 65. There are other guys 79 going on 102. With what I’ve done in my life, I’m about 111. But everything is good.”