When Hawk Harrelson opened up on struggling to dissociate from his baseball persona

Hawk Harrelson spent a few seasons playing in the MLB. However, he spent 33 years as a play-by-play broadcast announcer for the Chicago White Sox. After spending so many years with the White Sox, Harrelson stepped down at the end of the 2018 campaign.

Such a departure definitely created a vacuum, and Harrelson admitted to struggles in separating himself from his baseball persona. As reported by ESPN in 2018, Hawk said:

"And once he gets involved, I can't do anything about it. Hawk sometimes will not let me go. He's going to do what he wants to do."

Harrelson also revealed his wish to spend more time with his grandchildren after retirement. He once spoke about passing away in the booth. With his last breath, he would see the ball go into the stands and make his famous home run announcement.

In 1982, Harrelson started working as a play-by-play broadcaster for the Chicago White Sox. He stayed in the position until he was named the team's Executive VP of Baseball Operations three years later.

Boston Red Sox v Chicago White Sox

In 1988, Hawk Harrelson made a comeback as a broadcaster by covering the New York Yankees, but in 1990, he returned to work as a White Sox announcer. In 2010, GQ named him the "worst announcer in baseball" for his prodigious usage of catchphrases over the course of his decades-long broadcasting career.

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Hawk Harrelson said: "I didn't retire, I was fired"

He admitted to Foul Territory that, after having worked in broadcasting for 33 years, he was fired rather than retiring in 2018.

“I didn’t retire, I GOT retired” Hawk Harrelson joined #FTLive to take us behind the scenes of his remarkable career - Foul Territory

Harrelson received the Ford C. Frick Award, given yearly to a broadcaster for "major contributions to baseball," in December 2019.