Kenneth Smith Harrelson (born September 4, 1941), nicknamed "the Hawk" due to his distinctive profile, is an American former professional baseball player and television announcer.

He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1963 to 1971 as a first baseman and outfielder, and he subsequently spent 33 years as a play-by-play broadcast announcer for the Chicago White Sox.

In December 2019, Harrelson was named the 2020 recipient of the Ford C. Frick Award, presented annually to one broadcaster for "major contributions to baseball".

Throwing and batting right-handed, Harrelson played for four teams: the Kansas City Athletics (1963–66, 1967), Washington Senators (1966–67), Boston Red Sox (1967–69), and Cleveland Indians (1969–71).

His time with the Athletics in 1967 ended abruptly after only 61 games, when Harrelson was quoted in a Washington newspaper calling team owner Charlie Finley "a menace to baseball" following the dismissal of manager Alvin Dark.

Although Harrelson denied using the word "menace", he was released and ended up signing a lucrative deal with the Boston Red Sox, who were in contention to win their first pennant since 1946.

Harrelson announced his retirement the day after he was traded along with Dick Ellsworth and Juan Pizarro from the Red Sox to the Indians for Sonny Siebert, Vicente Romo and Joe Azcue on April 19, 1969.

He went 2-for-4, including a triple in the first plate appearance of his Indians debut, an 11–3 loss to the New York Yankees at Cleveland Stadium on April 24.

During spring training the following year, Harrelson suffered a broken leg while sliding into second base during a March 19 exhibition game against the Oakland Athletics.

When Indians rookie Chris Chambliss took over the first base position in 1971, Harrelson retired mid-season to pursue a professional golf career.

[5] However, Peter Morris' book A Game of Inches says the batting glove may have been used as early as 1901 by Hughie Jennings, and was definitely used by Lefty O'Doul and Johnny Frederick of the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1932, and later by Bobby Thomson in the 1950s.

[citation needed] Harrelson began a broadcasting career in 1975 with the Boston Red Sox on WSBK-TV, partnering with Dick Stockton.

Harrelson also traded rookie Bobby Bonilla, later a six-time All-Star, to the Pittsburgh Pirates for pitcher José DeLeón in July 1986.

[15] Harrelson resigned his executive role with the White Sox on September 26, 1986, approximately one week before the end of the regular season.

[7] From 1984 to 1989, he served as a backup color commentator on NBC's Game of the Week broadcasts alongside play-by-play man Jay Randolph.

[7] Harrelson returned to the White Sox in 1990 as the main play-by-play announcer during television broadcasts, teaming up with Tom Paciorek until 2000 and Darrin Jackson from 2000 to 2008.

[21] After calling his final game, a 6–1 loss to the crosstown rival Chicago Cubs, Harrelson officially retired from broadcasting on September 24, 2018.

On December 11, 2019, Harrelson was named the 2020 recipient of the Ford C. Frick Award, presented annually for excellence in broadcasting by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

When a White Sox player hits a ball which appears to be heading foul, Harrelson often states "Stay fair!"

Hawk will state "Dadgummit" when a ball that looks to be a home run is caught short of the wall or in general when a play does not go the White Sox's way.

[23][25] Though Harrelson has been criticized for his repeated use of catch phrases and hometown allegiances,[26] his popularity with White Sox fans is demonstrable.

Harrelson appears to have developed a dislike of umpire Joe West, who "in the past few years, has had some problems with the White Sox.

"[29][30] Following an on-air outburst about umpire Mark Wegner during a game on May 30, 2012, Harrelson received a reprimand from MLB commissioner Bud Selig.

After White Sox manager Robin Ventura's ejection for arguing the call, Harrelson commented: "I'll tell you what, they have got to start making guys be accountable.

"[31] A year later he had another outburst umpire tirade, this time over an alleged blown call in the bottom of the tenth against the Miami Marlins, when Angel Hernandez called Alex Rios out at first base, turning what would have been a game-winning bases-loaded ground ball fielder's choice for the White Sox into an inning-ending double play.

Harrelson coined many nicknames for popular Sox players, including "Black Jack" McDowell, Carlos "El Caballo" Lee, Lance "One Dog" Johnson, Frank "The Big Hurt" Thomas, Craig "Little Hurt" Grebeck, "The Deacon" Warren Newson, "Big Bad" Bobby Jenks, "The Silent Assassin" Javier Vázquez, Herbert "the Milkman" Perry, Jake "The Jake-Meister" Peavy, Dayán "The Tank" Viciedo, Willie "Peapod" Harris, Paul "The Professor" Konerko and Magglio "Maggs" Ordóñez, along with fan favorite "Big Dick" Richard Dotson.

An informal study by one baseball columnist, based on the number of home-team "biased" comments throughout the course of a game, concluded that Harrelson was by a wide margin the broadcaster who openly rooted for his team the most often.

The marriage produced four children (Patricia, Michael, Richard, and John), and three grandchildren (Nikole, Ryan and Kiefer) and one great-grandson, Jack.

A three-quarter sized replica of Donald McKay's clipper ship Flying Cloud was docked next to the club and was used as a floating cocktail lounge.

Harrelson resided in Granger, Indiana during baseball seasons, and would often discuss the long commute from his home to Guaranteed Rate Field during broadcasts.