The end of the Hawk Harrelson Era approaches. The White Sox mapped it out for everybody with a media release on Tuesday, and here's what the home stretch includes:
Sunday, Aug. 19: Paul Konerko guest-stars
The famously introspective first baseman will ride shotgun with Harrelson for the game against the Royals.
Sunday, Sept. 2: Hawk Day at Guaranteed Rate Field
The White Sox will give away Hawk Harrelson Nesting Dolls (see above) to the first 10,000 fans. A.J. Pierzynski will join him in the broadcast booth, perhaps giving Sox fans somebody who can tell stories about Hawk for once.
Thursday, Sept. 13: The "Hawk" documentary airs
Every attempt at telling Harrelson's life story is a single-sourced escapade with no attempts to verify the information or provide any additional context. That sounds like me being Fact Cop During Story Time, but it's more being curious about how much the Hawk persona alluded to in the trailer distorts the information.
One of the most colorful and influential personalities in baseball HISTORY!
— Chicago Sports Network (@CHSN__) August 13, 2018
The @whitesox and @NBCSChicago announce a joint production of a brand new documentary that chronicles the life and career of Ken "Hawk" Harrelson. Learn more about #HawkDoc: https://t.co/Y9ua9iQKVi pic.twitter.com/fQBJ6szVzq
I'm guessing this will be a hagiography than a truly honest accounting, but at least we'll have other people weighing in on the Hawk/Ken dichotomy. It airs 7 p.m. CT on NBC Sports Chicago.
Sunday, Sept. 23: The final broadcast
Harrelson will call his last regularly scheduled game for the Sox against the Cubs before slipping into a team ambassador role in 2019. (The Sox are saying that 2019 marks the start of Harrelson's sorely desired eighth decade in baseball, even though Hawk in the past has said he needed to get to 2020.)
The Sox offer no additional information, although since warm, easy banter with Steve Stone won't be the draw, I'm guessing the booth will be a carousel of well-wishers, or maybe everybody at the same time.
