Ep. 80: Hawk Harrelson, A.J. Pierzynski on being simultaneously loved and hated

The White Sox Podcast w/ Chuck Garfien

Chicago Sports Network

Sports, Sports:baseball, Baseball

4.7 • 620 Ratings

🗓️ 19 December 2017

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Chuck Garfien sits down with Hawk Harrelson and A.J. Pierzynski in their first interview together to discuss their unique relationship which goes back 25 years to when Pierzynski was in high school and was considered the most hated baseball player in Orlando, Florida. Hawk talks about convincing Ken Williams to sign Pierzynski as a free agent in 2005, the time he wanted to fight Texas Rangers pitcher Vicente Padilla after he beaned Pierzynski twice in a game. Harrelson tells the story about playing in a foursome with Michael Jordan, Jim McMahon and Mike Ditka. They also discuss the White Sox rivalry with the Twins in the 2000's, umpire Joe West, arm wrestling, Hawk's autobiography, AJ's plea to get Harrelson in the broadcasting wing in the Hall of Fame, their plan to call a White Sox game together next season, and much more.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I love AJ like a son. But AJ was the most hated high school player in Orlando. I mean, they were drilling him and throwing at him when he was the sophomore in high school. I had to play with a hatred, like for the other team. Like I couldn't just go out there and be buddies. Like that didn't work for me. I tried that, like in the minor league,
0:21.2	as hey, I'll be friends with it, it just didn't work.
0:23.0	Not that I did it because I, I mean,
0:24.7	I enjoy, I mean, it was kind of fun to be the bad guy because there's a lot of fun things, but I had to play like that. And at the end of my career, when I was like, I knew that I couldn't play anymore was because I couldn't fake it anywhere.
0:19.9	When they put me six feet under
0:37.6	and they get the gravestone, I want a couple things on that thing. I want. Here is a guy who
0:43.6	love baseball. Here's a guy who love this white socks. He gone. You want that eye of your
0:50.7	gravestone. I want that on my grave stone. I want that on my grave store. He gone. He gone. Hock Harrelson and A.J. Prisinski, two of the most loved and hated people in the history of Chicago
1:06.0	sports in their very first interview together.
1:09.0	Hey, everyone, I'm Chuck Arfine. It's the White Sox Talk podcast, brought to you by WinTrust Community Bank,
1:14.6	home of White Sox checking with free ATMs nationwide.
1:17.9	Find out more at winters.com slash socks.
1:21.7	So before heading to Orlando for the winter meetings,
1:24.2	I thought it would be fun to get Hawk and AJ together to talk about baseball and talk about their unique relationship, which goes back about 30 years. They both have homes in Orlando actually right down the street from one another. So we set up at AJ's house and covered a lot of ground.
1:50.2	I don't want to give too much away, but you're going to hear why the White Sox did not draft A.J. out of high school.
1:53.2	There's also a story about a breakfast meeting.
2:03.1	Hawk and AJ had together in 2004 because Hawk wanted to set AJ straight because Ken Williams had doubts about signing him as a free agent.
2:09.5	Hawk played a round of golf with Mike Ditka, Jim McMahon, and Michael Jordan.
2:12.4	Jimmy Mack did not behave himself.
2:15.2	You're going to learn why.
2:19.0	Also, why Joe West once threw AJ out of a spring training game.
2:27.2	Yes, a spring training game. And the next day, in typical AJ fashion, he got revenge on Joe West.
	...

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