GQ Names Hawk Harrelson Worst Announcer In Baseball

By Benjy Lipsman in News on Jul 13, 2010 2:40PM

GQ released their list of five best and five worst broadcast teams in baseball, and it probably comes at little surprise that White Sox broadcaster Hawk Harrelson ushered his pairing with Steve Stone into the #1 spot for worst broadcast booth. In their summary, which lets partner Stone off the hook entirely, Hawk is taken to task for his unabashed homerism as well as his "folksy" Hawkisms. We agree that listening to Harrelson announce our team's games is insufferable. We don't know which phrase of Hawk's we hate more: "He gone!," "Hang wuf 'em" or "Dagnambit!" They all pretty much suck.

We had hoped that when Stone replaced color commentator Darrin Jackson alongside Harrelson's play-by-play, the long time Cubs announcer could reign in Hawk. For a while, anyway, it seemed to work. But Harrelson continues to become a parody of his former self as the years go by. His "can of Corn" and "ducksnort" have evolved into an entire language that fails logic. Having reached 25 years in the booth for the South Siders, the Sox recently honored Hawk with "Hawk Harrelson Night" on June 8. We can only hope this is a prelude to forcing him into retirement. Whenever that day comes, we'll let out a hearty, "HE GONE!" And apparently we're not the only ones who pine for that day. Until then, we'll keep muting the TV and turning on Jackson and Ed Farmer's call on the radio.