This story was excerpted from Scott Merkin’s White Sox Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
CHICAGO -- Ken ‘Hawk’ Harrelson would like to be in Chicago tonight to watch Ozzie Guillen have his jersey No. 13 officially retired by the White Sox before a packed house at Rate Field.
Doctors’ appointments that can’t be rearranged in his home state of Florida prevent Harrelson, who turns 85 on Sept. 4 and is feeling good, from attending. But his absence certainly won’t lessen Harrelson’s great admiration for Guillen on this special day.
“I’m so proud of Ozzie and I always have been,” Harrelson told me during a Thursday evening phone conversation. “Ozzie is a super guy, he really is. I love him almost like a son.”
Guillen will be joined onstage today by Harold Baines, the Hall of Famer, White Sox icon and close friend of Guillen. Mark Buehrle and Paul Konerko, who have their jersey numbers retired (56 and 14, respectively) and concourse statues commissioned in their honor, as does Baines, also will be onstage. A.J. Pierzynski is broadcasting tonight's contest against the Guardians for FOX and completes the dais for Guillen.
Other former players and teammates of Guillen’s will be in the crowd. That list includes Lance Johnson, Ron Karkovice, Mike Huff, Greg Walker, Roberto Hernandez, Ron Kittle, Bo Jackson, Jesse Crain, Brian Anderson, Cliff Politte, Neal Cotts, Jon Garland, Jose Contreras, Joe Crede and Scott Podsednik.
Several guests were invited, but are unable to attend, such as Harrelson, Jermaine Dye and Ken Williams. It was Williams then the White Sox general manager, who made the bold decision to hire Guillen as the manager of the South Siders following the 2003 season.
The rest, as they say, was 2005 World Series championship history.
“Very happy for [Guillen] and his family,” Williams texted me from Italy, where he’s on a family vacation planned for quite a while. Otherwise, Williams would have been in attendance.
Chris Getz, the team’s current general manager, played for Guillen in 2008-09. It was Guillen who told Getz in Spring Training ’09 of being named the team’s starting second baseman. Getz also has a picture of the two fist-bumping as the lineup gradually was stationed on the field and announced for the first game of the season at home against the Royals.
Their working relationship goes beyond player/manager. Guillen is the highly entertaining, astute and always direct pre- and postgame co-host on CHSN, alongside Chuck Garfien, breaking down the trials and tribulations and success stories of the team.
In Harrelson’s retirement, aside from a new commitment to viewing tennis on a regular basis, he watches some baseball and of course is happy for the American League Central-leading White Sox. But he tries to view Guillen and Garfien before and after the games whenever possible.
“It is the best postgame and pregame show I ever saw in sports,” said Harrelson, also giving credit to Frank Thomas’ presence in the early incarnation of this show. “Ozzie has a great sense of humor, has a terrific mind and he’s not afraid of anything. He knows baseball as well as anybody, and I’ve been around a lot of people for a lot of years.”
As Guillen discussed in my newsletter last Saturday, he came from Venezuela to the United States as a teenager, joined shortly thereafter by his wife, Ibis, without knowing any English in their new country. Since that point, they have raised three sons, have four grandchildren, have made a home in the Chicago area and have represented the White Sox admirably.
From 1985-97, Guillen was a three-time All-Star at shortstop and won the 1985 AL Rookie of the Year. Guillen frequently pokes fun at his offensive game, but he had 1,608 career hits and 163 stolen bases for Chicago.
A total of 678 wins from 2004-11 ties Guillen with Tony La Russa for third all-time among White Sox managers. Nothing will ever top the ’05 season when the White Sox were in first from start to finish, posted an 11-1 record in the postseason and won their first championship in 88 seasons.
“I’ll put it this way: I never saw a Sox manager who was a better manager than Ozzie,” Harrelson said. “He got his guys to bust their [butt]. And if they didn’t, he would jump all over their [butt]. He instills in people what I call the TWTW -- the will to win.”
Let’s not forget Guillen’s broadcast work, getting nominated for local Chicago Emmys. Add all of this together and it’s clear Guillen deserves to become the 13th member of the organization to have his number retired -- and the first manager in franchise history.
“My first thought was, ‘It’s about time,’” said Geoff Blum, who played for Guillen in ’05.
“I mean, there’s just no question about it,” Harrelson said.