PUT IT ON THE BOARD!!! Hawk Harrelson Wins The Ford C. Frick Award, Is Now A Hall of Famer

PUT IT ON THE BOARD!  Look, I know Hawk is polarizing.  I totally understand why, we all do.  In the booth he was pompous, arrogant and even kind of a dick at times.  But love him or hate him, he was a GREAT ambassador for our game.  There will never, ever be another broadcaster like him – he coined a billion different phrases that compose a list that’s too long to type out.  That’s how many there are. But he also spoke his mind and was a bigger homer in the booth than anyone who’s ever been in the profession.  He was just unique, and that’s why Sox fans loved him – and a lot of other people hated him.

Almost two years ago, Carl and I had the opportunity to interview Hawk on Red Line Radio.  You can listen to the interview here:

Out of every single guest we’ve interviewed, Hawk was my favorite, with all due respect to Rick Hahn and every other guest we’ve ever had.  You can feel his genuine love for the greatest game in the world in every breath he takes.  There’s nobody on earth, NOBODY who loves baseball more than Hawk.  That, coupled with his 7 (!!!) decades in the game as a player, FO executive and broadcaster is the reason why he’s in the Hall.  He has left an indelible mark on the game, and one that will never, ever be duplicated, especially not in today’s PC/cancel culture.

AJ Pierzynski said it best in another interview on RLR – Hawk is baseball’s version of Forrest Gump.  There isn’t anything he hasn’t done or partaken in in both baseball and life.  I’m talking hanging with Frank Sinatra and Michael Jordan, getting shot at multiple times as a kid, almost winning the Triple Crown, playing golf professionally, hustling pool halls, meeting just about every president of his adult life.  The dude’s been through it all.

I love this man.  Out of all the great players we’ve seen come and go as Sox fans like The Big Hurt, Paulie, Abreu, and more, Hawk was the one constant throughout most of our lives.  He was there through the thick and thin and I couldn’t be happier for him.

Here are a few of his best calls/rants/jokes throughout the years:

Sacks packed full of seamen!!

WHAT ARE YOU DOING WEGNER!?!?!

“Joe West is becoming a JOKE to the umpiring profession.  Joe West deserves a suspension”

“Jay Mariotti is a Heiny bird”

Dewayne Wise’s perfect game catch and call:

and my personal favorite/least favorite – his good bye to Sox fans.  I cried like a baby during this:

But all good things come to an end.  Hawk is now immortal, at least in baseball.  He can take his place on the pantheons of all time greats like Vin Scully, Bob Eucker, Harry Caray, Jack Brickhouse, Don Orsillo, Jack Buck and others.

PS – Steve Stone is on deck IMO.  I can’t go a single telecast without learning something about baseball listening to Stone talk.  He’s as smart a ‘baseball guy’ as there ever was.  That, and Jason Benetti has become a great announcer in his own right.  More of the new age mold, which is fine, but he’s really starting to find his groove as a broadcaster on both the local and national stages.

Love you Hawk!!!