For the past 25 seasons Ken “Hawk” Harrelson has been the TV play-by-play voice of the Chicago White Sox alongside commentators such as Tom Paciorek, Darrin Jackson, and now Steve Stone. Harrelson has been a favorite of White Sox fans over that time largely due to his eccentric homer attitude, as well as his catchy phrases including the most famous of them all his home run call.
With Harrelson now 74 years old he is stepping down as the full-time TV play-by-play man for the White Sox, and reducing his workload for the 2016 season to just the teams road games. Making way for newly hired Jason Benetti, a graduate of Homewood-Flossmoor High School to live his dream job out as the TV play-by-play man for the Chicago White Sox.
Benetti, a lifelong Sox fan has worked previously for ESPN doing college football and basketball play-by-play since 2011. Benetti who attended Syracuse has also done five years of play-by-play for the Syracuse Chiefs, a minor league affiliate for the Washington Nationals through 2014.
While Benetti may be living his dream out starting this season, he has faced his share of adversity growing up. He suffers from cerebral palsy, after being born 10 weeks premature. Now 32 Jason has adapted to life in the world with a physical defect and even makes light of the condition on his Twitter account where he has a link to “Monty Python – Ministry of Silly Walks”. Which if you haven’t seen before, you should take a look because it is a rather funny bit.
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Starting in the spring of 2016 White Sox fans will get to experience Jason Benetti calling games with commentator Steve Stone during White Sox home games. While we all loved Hawk Harrelson for many years, I believe many would agree that it is time for a change in the booth. Benetti is highly regarded by former partners, as well as others in the industry such as Chicago Cubs announcer Len Kasper who was quoted telling Brooks Boyer “You better grab this guy before someone else does”.