Over his five decades in baseball Hawk Harrelson has never had trouble attracting attention. While coining some of the seminal phrases in White Sox history, he is drawn to light like a fly on a summer night.
Over the weekend — while his bromance with A.J. Pierzynski blossomed on live television — Hawk took a swipe at LeBron James.
“Well I used to watch LeBron, but no more,” Hawk proclaimed. “I wish these guys would keep their nose out of politics and just play because people didn’t come to hear their opinions on politicians.”
This isn’t the first moment of searing irony Hawk has suffered, and I’m sure that Hawk understands that if he is going to dish it out, as he has for 50 years — he better be able to take it. And boy did he get it.
Twitter was aflutter with rejoinders on Hawk’s opinion. Several voices chimed in from around Chicago, but the latest scribe to pile on is Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports. While haranguing on blowhards of baseball and Joe West’s ill-advised confiscation of a note card from a Phillies pitcher, he found a way to slip shot at Hawk.
What always cracked me up about Hawk Harrelson ripping on Joe West is that he might as well have been talking about himself. From 10 Degrees this week, a bit on how hardos are finding less and less of a place in baseball: https://t.co/rwaiZn9PYD pic.twitter.com/WHTrcKhiII
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) September 4, 2018
We all know what Hawk is and what he isn’t, and Hawk has always been outspoken about just about everything: his golf game, being a general manager, what players these days need to improve on, and his love affair with Carl Yazstremski. Hawk even fired off a shot across the bow of the Cubs when he said that he would never return to the decaying carcass of Wrigley Field — but really this is nothing new.
And quite frankly, making a statement about James’ political proclivities is not necessarily Hawk sticking his nose into politics on the air. It’s merely a statement with politics as the subject, but not a declaration of his own politics. But I’m just quibbling over details.
Hawk has always been who he is and there’s no sense in spinning it. My objection to Passan’s article is taking exception with the unwritten rules of baseball. Joe West can go jump in a lake. He’s a blowhard and has been for a long time. If Passan wants to classify Hawk with West, so be it.
But baseball doesn’t need to sacrifice nuance for measurables. That, in my opinion, would be the end of baseball as we know it and the beginning of a mathematical jigsaw puzzle requiring fans to admire statistical modeling over the human element. Give me Joe West and Hawk Harrelson every day.
