{"id":4075,"date":"2013-07-30T11:05:45","date_gmt":"2013-07-30T15:05:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tireball.com\/mlb\/?p=4075"},"modified":"2013-07-30T11:05:45","modified_gmt":"2013-07-30T15:05:45","slug":"hawk-harrelson-continues-to-bash-sabermetrics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/tireball.com\/mlb\/2013\/07\/30\/hawk-harrelson-continues-to-bash-sabermetrics\/","title":{"rendered":"Hawk Harrelson continues to bash sabermetrics"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"hawk\"<\/p>\n

The will to win is not an official baseball statistic but Chicago White Sox announcer Hawk Harrelson believes in it. Harrelson, a former big leaguer, is not fond of sabermetrics calling them a \u201cjoke\u201d in a Monday piece run in the New York Times.<\/p>\n

The Times notes:<\/em><\/p>\n

Harrelson maintains that he does, in fact, like numbers and that sabermetrics does have a valued place in baseball, but that he would prefer it be a role much more limited that it is now and that too much deference is being paid in general to numbers crunching. He called its rise over the last decade \u201cthe biggest joke I\u2019ve ever seen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harrelson has long been a fixture on White Sox broadcasts and while number crunching may be valuable his style has always been entertainment though storytelling and zingy one-liners.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe gone, grab some bench, put it on the board, don\u2019t stop now boys\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n