Hawk: I Did It My Way

by Ken "Hawk" Harrelson

Anyone who's tuned in to a White Sox game during the past four decades has heard his calls and catchphrases: "Mercy!" "Rack 'em up!" "He gone!" Ken Harrelson is a man who knows how to talk and is brimming with stories, but even the most dedicated fans haven't heard them all; many of "Hawk's" most memorable tales are simply not suitable for television broadcasts. Now, in his memoir, Harrelson opens up on a wide variety of topics, from his volatile childhood, to life in the major leagues, to stints as a professional golfer and MLB general manager, and of course his storied years in the broadcast booth. He minces no words when reflecting on brawls, blowups, and encounters with figures ranging from Mickey Mantle and Arnold Palmer to Frank Sinatra and Bobby Kennedy. Packed with the enthusiasm and candor audiences have come to expect, Hawk is a no-holds-barred look at a singular life and career.

Genres: Baseball, Sports, Autobiography, Biography

393 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 1, 2018

Reviews

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a Chicagoan, I grew up and to love the Chicago White Sox. For years, I listened to many announcers call the games on both radio and television....from Harry Caray to Jimmy Piersall, to more current times with John Rooney and Darrin Jackson to the one and the only Hawk Harrelson.

Hawk Harrelson for many years was the voice of Chicago White Sox Baseball...but for all but the most die-hard Hawk fans, he was also a player and later announcer for the Boston Red Sox and played for the (then) Kansas City A's.

This book chronicles his life in baseball both on and off the field, and his interactions with many people within and outside the sports world, including his deep friendships with golf legends and others.

For anyone who wants to learn about the man behind his signature home run calls as well as his "Hawkisms", check this book out. A great read on a colorful figure in Baseball History!

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

I met Hawk during the summer of 1984 while working as a Sports Department Production Assistant at WMAQ TV. One weeknight he popped into the office, probably to record some voice-overs for "Beat The Hawk." I was alone with him for a few minutes. We didn't talk baseball, as far was I can recall, but I do recall him mentioning he had recently taken his family to see The Jacksons ('84 Victory Tour) and he raved about the show. Probably was "the best concert I ever saw" (Sox fans should get that one). He was every bit as personable as I had understood him to be.

My fellow Sox fan son gave this book to me for Christmas a couple of years ago. Gave us a good laugh. It sat on my bookshelf until recently, when finding myself without a bedtime read, I thought what the heck. The stories of his upbringing and early days in the minor and major leagues were quite entertaining, all the more so as actually a few I had never heard.

Personally, my favorite Hawk broadcasting years were those with Tom Paciroek. Great chemistry, great humor, and pretty darn good Sox baseball to boot, at least for a couple of years...

Reader beware: get used to a particular one letter personal pronoun. (sorry Hawk, I love ya anyway). :)

[Keith Wengronowitz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite simply the greatest broadcaster in the history of baseball. Fantastic stories that clearly are told directly by Hawk. A great read for any baseball fan, but a must read for all WhiteSox fans.
YOU CAN PUT IT ON THE BOARD.....YES!!!

[RICK "SHAQ" GOLDSTEIN · Rating 5 out of 5]

RICK “SHAQ” GOLDSTEIN SAYS: FASTEN YOUR SEAT BELT… GRAB A COLD ONE… LEAN BACK… AND LISTEN TO THE HAWK SQUAWK!
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Before I even get into some of the detail… let me state real quickly for all true old-school baseball fans… this is one of the greatest… non-stop… rocket fueled… hilarious… behind the scenes… in front of the scenes… on the field… off the field… baseball books… that I’ve had the true good fortune of reading… in many years! This is a full length… take no prisoners account… of the glorious life of… Ken “The Hawk” Harrelson!

There hasn’t been a character like Hawk in baseball in a quarter-of-a-century…. And in today’s politically correct… everyone’s a multi-millionaire… even if they’ve never hit 200… and of course go on the disabled list… with a hangnail… environment… will probably never have one again. The Hawk is a born raconteur… and every joyous story… jumps off the page like you’re sitting at home tossing a “few” back… and talking about old times with your favorite buddy. The writing style is smooth as silk… and delivered as if the words were being shot out of a literary fully automatic “word-machine-gun”… that never runs out of ammo!

Hawk comes at you full speed… from his youth with his beloved “Mama”… whom Hawk unabashedly states throughout… that he has always been a “Mama’s Boy”… and always will. From his uncanny success in every sport he played growing up…. Baseball-Basketball-Football-Golf… and in fact wound up being the only athlete to play in THE ALL-STAR GAME… THE WORLD SERIES… *AND*…THE BRITISH OPEN! He was part of the unfortunate masses… that were forced to endure Charlie O. Finley… and also one of the blessed to be part of the Boston Red Sox’s 1967 IMPOSSIBLE DREAM!

Not that I’m admitting anything here… but ”hypothetically” … Hawk may have been in as many bar fights… as I might have been in. All I could think of when Hawk recounted a few of those bare knuckle brawls… was… man… those were the days when you could get in a fight and not immediately have fifty lawyers involved before you could even go to the bathroom to wash your face and hands. Oh yea… Hawk also had a few amateur boxing matches along the way. Like a real life… athletic… Walter Mitty… Harrelson rubbed elbows with an almost unbelievable list of the “very” famous. (Normally with adult beverages flowing like water over Niagara Falls.) Let me share with you a sample of his acquaintances with a quote from the book:

“How many guys have been given golf clubs by Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, and Palmer, or a putter by Payne Stewart only weeks before he died, beaten Sam Snead in match play, or sang on stage with Roy Clark, Jerry Reed, and Chet Atkins, or hung out with the likes of Rocky Marciano and Mickey Mantle, or movie stars like Richard Burton and Liz Taylor, or kneeled in the on-deck-circle as the great Carl Yastrzemski ripped a homer at Fenway Park, or sat next to Frank “Hondo” Howard as he ripped into a steak, had a drink with Robert Mitchum, been called a buddy by Frank Sinatra, or even got the chance to meet John Wayne? I witnessed quite a bit of history too. I was with Joe Namath the night before he fulfilled his famous guarantee, leading the New York Jets to one of the biggest upsets in sports history, in Super Bowl III. I joked around with Bobby Kennedy at my locker just weeks before he was assassinated. (I never told him I almost punched his brother Teddy in the face one night.)”

Even though I have read hundreds upon hundreds of baseball books… I learned for the first time that someone absolutely hated… I mean despised Gil Hodges. That person being the Hawk. He gave his views chapter and verse… so it goes to show once again how accurate Abraham Lincoln was when he said… “You can please some of the people all of the time… and all the people some of the time… but you can’t please all the people all of the time.” During the same time period when Hawk was on the Washington Senators managed by Hodges… he was teammates of the “giant” former Dodger Frank “Hondo” Howard. The author’s tales of Howard’s hitting heroics… and massive size and strength were exhilarating. One night at a bar… Wilt Chamberlain sat at the table with Hawk and Howard… “Later when Hondo stood up to go to the bathroom, I noticed Wilt staring at him. Before he came back, Wilt whispered to me, “Hawk, that’s the biggest man I have ever seen!” A personal note: When my Babe Ruth League team won the league championship fifty years ago… Frank Howard handed out the trophies and shook my hand. I’ve been telling this story for fifty years… his hand to this day… is the biggest hand I’ve ever shaken. I was a basketball player that could palm a ball just by bouncing it into my palm… and my hand felt like a miniature doll hand in his.

Harrelson’s charmed life… not only went from baseball to golf… but miraculously… led him to a super successful career in broadcasting. Through it all… “The Hawk”… simply remained “The Hawk”.

I could go on and on… but I will make you a guarantee… that is a lot less risky than Broadway Joe’s prediction for the 1969 Super Bowl… and that is… if you are a true old-school baseball fan… you will not be able to put this book down… and the only time you will… is because it is so freakin good… you don’t want it to end!

Final Note: With the #ME TOO movement exploding more each day… I feel I should include the detail as to why Harrelson stated he almost punched Teddy Kennedy in the face one night:
“The worst encounter I ever had with a politician involved Bobby’s younger brother, Ted, then a young senator from Massachusetts. I attended a political fund-raiser one night, wearing a gold lame’ suit accompanied by a very pretty date. Despite my outfit, everybody was staring at my date. At one point, Ted reached out and grabbed her butt as he walked by her. I just happened to see it. Immediately, I wanted to walk over to him and punch him, but he had two giant state troopers serving as his bodyguards that night. A few of my friends saw what he did, too and had to talk me out of trying to get by those two troopers to reach him. That was right before the Chappaquiddick incident.”

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are a White Soxs fan and you like Hawk, you'll love and want to read this book. If you are not one of those this book isn't for you but you probably knew that already.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember being a kid in elementary school when I first heard about Hawk Harrelson calling White Sox games. The way he called a game and his nicknames for players were endearing to me at the time. As I got older though, he began to irritate me. The hyperbole, the anger, the old-school athlete attitude, not to mention his antiquated view of the game made him a joke in my mind. He seemed like an aged jock who had become a parody of himself as he entered old age.

I picked up his book, almost as a joke, but with the thought in mind that he was a living legend and that he had a story to tell, whether or not I was a White Sox fan--I'm not, incidentally.

I couldn't believe how much I enjoyed Hawk's autobiography. On every other page he's either fighting someone, drinking, or golfing. His stories are interesting and believable, and he seems to have known almost every famous athlete from the 60s through the 90s. Hawk even acknowledges his shortcomings, at least in his personal life.

If you're a Chicago White Sox fan, this book is required reading. But if you just enjoy the game of baseball and are familiar with Hawk Harrelson is some capacity, you'll enjoy this book.

[Mickey Mantle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a lifelong White Sox fan who grew up listening to Jack Brickhouse. He was every Chicago sports fans' nutty Uncle. Totally beloved.
Eventually Harry Caray came to the White Sox with his boisterous alcohol fueled "Comiskey Park is the place to be" style. I loved him.
Along comes Hawk. Ken Harrelson.
This is one tremendous read for a Sox fan because what you are hearing is the real man. He is a natural competitor. He is not just shilling or selling the product.
The guy has a unique ability as a broadcaster to make you laugh and infuriate you in between pitches!
The book is his life story. Wild young man to a genuine human being with a huge heart.
I saw the human being in him reading his story.
I totally enjoyed the read.

[Carmen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hemorrhoids. Way too much detail about the hemorrhoids. Seriously, I wanted to send Hawk some preparation H. Otherwise, celebrities he's met, golf, and how today's baseball players are good, but couldn't handle how baseball was played in Hawk's day, and how sabremetrics are ruining the game

[George Hamblen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ken Harrelson was the best tv color guy in Red Sox history… I remember his calls like yesterday. Not bad considering that was 1975… this is Ken’s story.. which is also a history of baseball. Often colorful, the.book is crammed with stories as a player and a broadcaster.

[Andy Currier · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining to say the least. Not for everyone though. I think you have to be a White Sox fan to truly appreciate this guy and his stories

[Adam Colmone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Its Hawk... you get what you expect.

[Brian Sexton · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a White Sox fan I absolutely loved it! Such an interesting life this man has lived. Really enjoyed reading about it and hearing his views, opinions, and stories.

[Raymond · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unlike some of the reviewers of this book, I don't know Ken `Hawk' Harrelson primarily as the voice of the White Sox. I started following baseball in the summer of 1967. My father took me to historic Fenway Park that September and Hawk hit the only home run of the game off the Yankees Al Downing in a 9-1 Red Sox victory. I also saw Harrelson's first broadcast in 1975. This book chronicles the Nehru jacket-clad Harrelson of the 1960's - he was called mod, there's a word that's gone out of fashion - to the self-proclaimed old school Hawk of today.
The book's chock full of stories from baseball, golf and the celebrity world. My favorite was from 1967 when Harrelson revealed that in the midst of the pennant race, Boston superstar Carl Yastrzemski would retreat to the clubhouse in the late innings of a close game and down a shot of Seagram's VO7 whiskey. Harrelson said it would have knocked him on his butt but Yaz banged out clutch hit after clutch hit en route to an MVP and Triple Crown season.
Harrelson can name-drop with the best of them - although he has played golf with Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer and been close friends with Joe Namath, Michael Jordan and Mickey Mantle. At times he does seem oblivious to the fact that some of the baseball people that he's been most fond of - Dick Williams, Billy Martin, Ozzie Guillen and A.J. Pierzynski - were disliked in many circles. And I almost forgot Harrelson's bete noir, Charles O. Finley. As Harrelson noted when talking about his time with the mercurial Athletics owner - ``thinking of those crazy times all those years later, it is hard not to laugh.''
Many probably don't know or remember that Harrelson was the general manager of the White Sox for a couple of years in the 1980's. The one thing I would have liked to have read more about was the relationship between Harrelson and then White Sox manager Tony LaRussa which was only hinted at in the book. The Hawk's legacy as GM was that he was the guy who fired LaRussa, although it wasn't until LaRussa went on to manage in Oakland and St. Louis that he cemented his reputation as a top-flight baseball mind.
`Hawk: I Did It My Way' is recommended for anyone interested in baseball in the `60's or enjoyed Harrelson's announcing in later years.

[Joseph Hageman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well written and conversational in style. I felt like I was listening to Hawk while I was reading his book. For baseball fans who would like to learn more about the recent history of baseball seen through the eyes of a very smart player, broadcaster and administrstor, this book is highly recommended.

[William Dury · Rating 3 out of 5]

I moved to Chicago from Los Angeles in 1982. I lived on the North Side and was a Cub fan until their late 1980s slid into mediocrity. I became a Sox fan in the early 1990s. They won a lot of games and, for a time, Frank Thomas was the best hitter I ever saw. To be a Sox fan is to be, eventually, a Hawk fan. Hawk was a homer, he worn his heart on his sleeve and this book is like hanging with an old ball player, listening to his stories in a seedy bar while waiting out a midsummer Midwest monsoon rain delay.