If you noticed a major disconnect in the Chicago White Sox television broadcasts last season you are not the only one. Sox executives, led by chairman of the board Jerry Reinsdorf, met with announcers Ken (Hawk) Harrelson and Steve Stone at SoxFest on Jan. 25 to discuss the communication breakdown between the two broadcasters over the past two baseball seasons.
Harrelson, appearing on ESPN Chicago’s “Talkin’ Baseball” on Saturday, said he was happy with the end result of the confab.
“There was a problem last year,” the veteran announcer said. “The first two years we worked together (in 2009-10) were terrific. It reminded me of working with (Don) Drysdale (in the 1980’s.)”
Stone, who had done White Sox radio with Ed Farmer for two seasons after leaving the Chicago Cubs after 2005, joined Harrelson on Sox television games in 2009.
“In 2011 something was wrong,” Harrelson said. “In 2012 something was wrong. We talked about it through the course of the year and finally had the big meeting at Sox Fest. Jerry was there and so was Bob Grimm and Brooks Boyer. We got it all out on the table and worked it all out. When we walked out of the meeting I felt great and so did Steve.”
Both Harrelson and Stone have won numerous awards for baseball broadcasting and according to industry sources, both are among the highest paid announcers in the major leagues.
The Sox hope to use their veteran television and radio broadcasters to help sell the experience at U.S. Cellular field more aggressively in 2013, according to a White Sox official.