Ken Harrelson

Lore & Background

Harrelson was born in Woodruff, South Carolina, and his family moved to Savannah, Georgia, when he was in fifth grade. As a child he was interested in basketball and hoped to pursue a basketball scholarship from the University of Kentucky. His parents divorced when he was eight. He played golf, baseball, football and basketball at Benedictine Military School in Savannah, Georgia. Throwing and batting right-handed, Harrelson played for four teams: the Kansas City Athletics (1963–66, 1967), Washington Senators (1966–67), Boston Red Sox (1967–69), and Cleveland Indians (1969–71). In his nine-season career, he was a .239 hitter with 131 home runs and 421 RBI in 900 games. His time with the Athletics in 1967 ended abruptly after 61 games when he was quoted calling team owner Charlie Finley "a menace to baseball" following the dismissal of manager Alvin Dark; he was released and signed with the Boston Red Sox. He grounded out in his first at bat for Boston, then homered in his second, and helped the team win the pennant, but watched the team drop the World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games. In 1968, he made the American League All-Star team, hit a career-high 35 home runs, and led the major leagues in runs batted in with 109, finishing third in the American League Most Valuable Player balloting. He was traded from the Red Sox to the Indians on April 19, 1969, and played for Cleveland through 1971. He finished 1969 with 30 home runs and a career-high 99 walks. During spring training 1970, he suffered a broken leg sliding into second base in an exhibition game, keeping him on the sidelines for much of the season. He retired mid-season in 1971 to pursue a professional golf career.

In Their Own Story

The air inside Comiskey Park is thick with the smell of roasted peanuts and damp earth as the seventh-inning stretch begins. In the booth, Ken Harrelson leans into his microphone, his voice booming over the crackle of the AM radio signal that reaches every corner of the South Side. He doesn't just call the game; he narrates a neighborhood gathering, his laughter echoing through the speakers in living rooms from Cicero to Evanston. As a rookie pitcher steps onto the mound, Harrelson whispers a joke about the batter's swing, and for a split second, the entire city feels like it is sitting right beside him in the booth.

Reader's Guide

Harrelson is often credited with being the first Major League player to wear a batting glove when he did so in the 1960s, using a golf glove to protect a hand blistered by playing 27 holes of golf. However, baseball historian Peter Morris writes that a batting glove may have been used as early as 1901, and was definitely used by Lefty O'Doul and Johnny Frederick in 1932; in the 1940s and 1950s, many players wore batting gloves. Morris credits Harrelson and Rusty Staub with helping to popularize batting gloves, which were ubiquitous by the late 1970s. Harrelson began a broadcasting career in 1975 with the Boston Red Sox on WSBK-TV, partnering with Dick Stockton. He became highly popular, especially after being teamed with Ned Martin in 1979. He left after the 1981 season, moving to a broadcasting role with the Chicago White Sox; he served as a White Sox announcer from 1982 to 1985. On October 2, 1985, he was named executive vice president of baseball operations for the White Sox. Then-general manager Roland Hemond was given a special assistant role and left in April 1986, leaving Harrelson as de facto general manager until Tom Haller was hired in early June 1986. During June 1986, Harrelson fired assistant general manager Dave Dombrowski and manager Tony La Russa, and traded rookie Bobby Bonilla to the Pittsburgh Pirates for pitcher José DeLeón. He resigned his executive role on September 26, 1986. During the 1987 and 1988 seasons, he was the play-by-play announcer for New York Yankees games on SportsChannel New York. From 1984 to 1989, he served as a backup color commentator on NBC's Game of the Week. In 1994, he broadcast for the Baseball Network and was the US broadcaster for the Japan Series. He returned to the White Sox in 1990 as the main play-by-play announcer, teaming with Tom Paciorek until 2000 and Darrin Jackson from 2000 to 2008. In 2009, Steve Stone began accompanying him in the booth. He won five Emmy Awards and two Illinois Sportscaster of the Year awards. In 2010, GQ magazine named him the worst broadcaster in baseball. Starting with the 2016 season, he cut back his schedule to road games and select home games; Jason Benetti took over for most home games. On May 31, 2017, he announced his final year would be the 2018 season. He called his final game, a 6–1 loss to the Chicago Cubs, on September 24, 2018. On December 11, 2019, he was named the

Did You Know?

• Harrelson was nicknamed 'the Hawk' due to his distinctive profile.
• He grounded out in his first at bat for the Boston Red Sox in 1967, then homered in his second.
• He led the major leagues in runs batted in with 109 in 1968.
• Harrelson is sometimes credited with being the first MLB player to wear a batting glove, but this is a disputed myth.
• He was named the 2020 recipient of the Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasting.