Hawk- Wimpy finale one to savor
If you’re going to the White Sox’ game Sunday against the Twins at Guaranteed Rate Field, be sure to record the TV broadcast at home.
Heck, even if you’re not going to the game, set the DVR anyway. This is one for the time vault.
Ken Harrelson and Tom Paciorek, affectionately known as Hawk andWimpy, will broadcast a Sox game together for the last time.
Paciorek is filling the analyst role for Steve Stone, who has the series off. Harrelson is calling mostly Sunday home games among the 20 he’ll work in his last season in the booth.
It seems the stars were aligned for the pair to call one more game together.
‘‘ They were a great team together,’’ Sox radio analyst Darrin Jackson said. ‘‘ It was sad when they broke that team up and I went up there and started working with Hawk. There’s no replacing Wimpy because he was such a great guy and so much fun and entertaining.’’
Harrelson and Paciorek called Sox games together from 1991 to ’ 99. Jackson was a surprise replacement for Paciorek in 2000. He had been a reserve outfielder for the Sox the previous season. Jackson stayed with Harrelson through 2008, and Stone took over the next year.
Hawk andWimpy were as entertaining as any broadcast pairing in the game. Hawk wove his baseball beliefs and theories into his play- by- play, which never left you wondering whether the Sox were ahead or behind. Wimpy broke down the game with a whimsical sense of humor.
They had their own shtick, but it all worked. Hawk had his Hawkisms— such as ‘‘ duck snort’’ and ‘‘ He gone,’’ to name two of about 100— andWimpy made jokes. He’d call a southpaw a ‘‘ funky left- hander,’’ and if the Sox caught a break in a game, he’d say, ‘‘ We take dah one.’’ Both with humorous voice inflections.
‘‘ Hawk has his own show, simple as that,’’ Jackson said. ‘‘ Wimpy was going to give you the fun factor and entertainment factor. And they just played off of each other so well. You couldn’t change either one of them, and everybody accepted who they were. I think that just made it fun.’’
Hawk might have been at his best in the booth withWimpy. The same dynamic didn’t exist with Jackson, and Hawk’s tension with Stone was well- publicized. But at least for one more game, Hawk and Wimpywill get to relive the old days.
‘‘ I’m glad that they get this game together,’’ Jackson said. ‘‘ It is sad that there’s not going to be any more of them. But with that being said, it wouldn’t surprise me if, down the road, there’s some special days where both of them are back together.’’