If you’re like me and grew up a White Sox fan, you most likely experienced the legendary Hawk Harrelson on the call every night. The winner of the 2020 Ford C. Frick award and an inductee into the Baseball Hall of Fame, Harrelson was the voice of the White Sox from 1982 until his retirement in 2018. At the time, it was difficult to envision replacing Hawk, who was known for his hilarious catch phrases and sayings that White Sox fans still use regularly. But when the White Sox announced the hire of local up-and-coming broadcaster Jason Benetti and White Sox fans got to hear his passionate and intelligent commentary, it felt like the future of the broadcast booth was in good hands.
Benetti took over full-time for the White Sox in 2019, and with him came the arrival of the highly touted prospects and the payoff of the rebuild that White Sox fans had patiently waited for. Benetti called some iconic moments in his brief tenure, including a no-hitter from Lucas Giolito in 2020 and Carlos Rodon in 2021. His voice fueled the excitement for the 2021 team that won 93 games and a division title, and he seemed to understand the frustration of the underachieving 2022 team. The 2023 season, however, took things to a new low. The White Sox bottomed out thanks to an abysmal April, leading to the eventual firings of Rick Hahn and Kenny Williams. The team lost 100 games and sold heavily at the trade deadline, leaving many to wonder about the direction of the team.
Benetti's decision to leave a reflection of White Sox incompetence
Things went from bad to worse when Jason Benetti announced his decision to leave the White Sox for the division-rival Tigers following the 2023 season. Benetti leaving his hometown team to take a job in a smaller market left many White Sox fans wondering if more was going on than meets the eye. While Benetti never provided specific details about what led to his departure, the Chicago Sun-Times reported a strained relationship with White Sox executive Brooks Boyer was a contributing factor. Nevertheless, the White Sox were once again left to find a worthy broadcaster to follow in the footsteps of the greats.
The full Jason Benetti call on that black magic Jobe Sinker. He's the 🐐 pic.twitter.com/sitpLQeJV7
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 18, 2025
Since leaving the White Sox, Benetti has remained the play-by-play voice of the Tigers. Additionally, he’s worked for Fox Sports covering MLB, NFL, college basketball, and college football. He was the play-by-play announcer on Peacock’s Sunday morning baseball broadcast, and now he could be expanding his role even further. NBC has recently agreed to a deal with MLB to air games, and Benetti is reportedly the leading candidate to be the play-by-play voice for them.
As Benetti continues to garner national attention as one of the best broadcasters working today, White Sox fans are left looking for answers. A team that already plays second-fiddle to the Cubs in many aspects had one of the best broadcast booths in the league, and let it go. Benetti, who said back in 2016 that doing play-by-play for the White Sox, the team he grew up rooting for, was his dream job, felt disrespected enough by the White Sox organization to give it up. His exit is a brutal display of the cultural issues that have plagued the organization for so long in the Reinsdorf era. It takes a real amount of condescension and self-righteousness to chase away one of the game’s greatest talents simply because he does things a little differently. And the White Sox will suffer the consequences of this attitude for as long as Jason Benetti continues to thrive. This is just one example of the massive cultural shift that future owner Justin Ishbia will need to spearhead.
While the White Sox watch Benetti’s ascension from the outside, the fans will get another year of John Schriffen in the booth. Schriffen certainly made strides in year two despite his ongoing struggle to relate to fans, and he’ll look to continue growing as he enters year three with what is hopefully the most competitive team of his tenure.
Even if the Schriffen/Stone booth reaches new heights in 2026, it’s going to be difficult not to look over at Jason Benetti's success and wonder what could’ve been.