In a puzzling move that illustrates the great cultural divide between North and South Side, the White Sox organization announced over the weekend it will pair Hawk Harrelson with Steve Stone in the broadcast booth. That is, to improve ratings, they’re keeping the Hawk. As far as I understand Stoney’s history, he’s one of the better broadcasters working today. That his comments sometimes raise the ire of his home team “ I can’t see that being a problem for a diplomat like Ozzie Guillen.
The other insult to common sense, the Sox are offering Darrin Jackson, Hawk’s current cell mate, the spot Stone currently holds calling Sox games in the growth industry known as South Side sports radio. Hopefully, Jackson has a better offer. Stone gets a six-year deal, and the reasoning is that because Stone has a “following,” fans will now watch Sox games? How about if the White Sox won a World Series for the first time since 1919, maybe that would improve their ratings? Oh wait, they did.
The Chicago Tribune’s Teddy Greenstein (with an assist from Dave Van Dyck) reports the Sox’ retreat from mainstream media here:
Sox TV ratings have lagged far behind those of the Cubs, and the team would like to change that. Stone became a fan favorite working with Harry and Chip Caray on Cubs broadcasts.
“I understand that, DJ does, Stoney does,” Harrelson said. “Ratings dictate a lot of things. Stoney has a huge following in Chicago. When they told me they were thinking about doing this, I understood.”
The move seems to close the door on the possibility that Stone will be involved in a Cubs ownership group.
He’s a Sox guy now, through and through.
“I know there are a lot of players who have played for both sides of town, but I do believe I’m the only broadcaster who has done radio on both sides of town and now television on both sides of town,” he said. “The fans on both sides of Chicago have treated me so well that it didn’t matter who I was working with or who I was playing with.”
TV jobs are generally more desirable than radio gigs for three reasons: There’s more prestige, they pay more and they allow the broadcasters to take breathers during the season. Fox and ESPN have combined to broadcast nearly a dozen Sox games this season.
“We haven’t gotten to that stage where we would talk about salary,” Jackson said. “We’ll talk more if I decide this is something I want to do.”
As a Sox fan, I’ve got to say you must be a Twinkies fan. You are definitely not from Chicago.
Of course Cubs games are more popular, the CUBS are more popular.
Stone is being moved to TV to maximize his earning potential. It’s a typical Sox move. It’s not about ratings, it’s about revenue. Steve Stone, like him or not, has major street cred in Chicago. Advertisers will line up to buy a piece of that street cred. Plus, with TV revenue being so much higher than radio revenue, they can pay Stone more.
Jackson was thrown a bone so the Sox would save face and to placate Harrelson who most likely is madder than hell about this because he’s not the star anymore nor can he run all over Stone the way he’s run all over his previous two partners.Harrelson, by the way, is a favorite of Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf, so don’t expect him to get fired.
Hawk is a homer, but he’s our homer. I can name a half dozen MLB announcers who suck a lot more.
Stone is actually an arrogant prick. There are plenty of people who have worked both sides of the street starting with hall of famer Jack Brickhouse and including Vince Lloyd and (yuck) Milo Hamilton. And some guy named Caray did Sox games before he did Cub games.
It’s not about ratings, it’s about revenue.
and of course the two are unrelated.
hawk is terrible. i mean, really, sincerely bad. when the chisox are on the old number 9 or on the u i have to mute the fucking tv and listen to records. when the turntable went to hell i just wouldn’t watch sox games. as someone in chicago without a vested interest in either team i can tell you i’d much rather listen to bob and len doing a cubs game than listen to dj and hawk doing a pale hose game. think about that for a second, BOB BRENLY IS THE BETTER OPTION. if the chisox management want to increase their ratings (and in turn revenue) a good first step may be to replace the person in the booth that is the active deterrent to watching their games.
I’ve heard so much of Hawk Harrelson. I think I’ll troll YouTube and see if I can find one of his games.
Steve Stone, like him or not, has major street cred in Chicago.
White tv announcers cannot possibly have street cred, dummy.
Wow. And here I thought that Peter Angelos’ toadies (Jim Palmer, Jim Hunter, Gary Thorne, etc.) were “homers”…LMAO
Seriously, though, because I live 2 hours from D.C., I’m not up on this situation..so it’s better I not comment on this.
So, I won’t.
i like djand is stone gonna runk backto arizona crying like a baby as he did once beforeif players confront him and tell him to tone down his condescending sarcasm?stone is merely another baseball fan with an opinion,nobetter, noworse than the rest of us fans,only he has been overrated bypeople in the media as some sort of sage-bs-he’s never managed never coached,neverowned a ball club-a true pussy
dj got the shaft.
fuck steve stone.
oh, and harry caray was an asshole-stone learned well
oh,again,fuck steve stone
did he molest you as a child (or adult)?
Will no one defend Stoney? I like the guy, but I don’t miss him so much I’d watch a game I don’t care about just to hear him.
Still, Mike’s right about Stone’s high opinion of himself. When the Trib announced they’d sell the Cubs, Stone offered himself up in interviews as part of the new ownership, whoever it would be, while not being a GM or manager or any kind of executive. In short, he wanted to be some sort of decision-maker without having to actually do anything … sort of like, being an announcer whose every critique is e-mailed to the clubhouse and executed on the field, which is what got him fired from the Cubs in the first place.
What? Stony is an all-time great commentator-announcer who adds more to the game with two sentences than Harrelson does with an inning’s worth of his company-man gooberrhrea. For all his guru-speak, Stone never gets in the way of the proceedings while Harrelson is at best a distraction and at worst a rare opportunity to regret rural electrification. If the choice is between being interesting and having fired Tony LaRussa, I’ll take interesting.
Putting these guys together is not going to be a good thing. Stone belongs paired up with a caller with a decent sense of humor and timing on the sharp side, not fucking Enos from the Dukes of Hazzard. His pairing with Ed Farmer was the best it got in town for a very long time, and it’ll be a shame to lose it.
Yeah, stone does have a sense of humor and is very good. How many years on hawk’s contract? Maybe stoney’s the future. He’s the guy in the booth I ever heard describe on-coming rain in pittsburgh look like something out of a dean koontz novel. And I liked him with thom brenneman, too — stoney carried on that long wgn tradition of nasal broadcasters that lou boudreau championed for so long. As for him calling sox games, well, lipstick on a hawk and all that …