Chicago White Sox pick Benetti to replace Harrelson on home games

Growing up in south suburban Homewood, Jason Benetti was a big fan of both the Chicago White Sox and their high-profile TV broadcaster.

"You know, I grew up watching Hawk," Benetti said of Ken "Hawk" Harrelson. "Hawk was my frame of reference. That doesn't mean I'm going to be Hawk, but I grew up watching Hawk."

Now, the 32-year-old Benetti is going to replace Harrelson when the Sox play at U.S. Cellular Field.

Having grown tired of making the long trip from his in-season home in Granger, Indiana, to the Cell for home games, the 74-year-old Harrelson is going to limit his schedule to White Sox road games this season. Harrelson will be in the booth for the April 8 home opener against the Cleveland Indians and July 25-26 home games against the Cubs.

Benetti, who currently does college football and basketball play-by-play on ESPN, was in the booth for five years with Class AAA Syracuse, the Washington Nationals' top farm team, through the 2014 season.

Knowing Harrelson was planning to reduce his upcoming schedule, Benetti contacted Sox sales and marketing director Brooks Boyer late last season but didn't have very high hopes.

"In this industry with so many talented people that do what we do, and it being an industry that's so subjective and creative and all that, to get my hopes up for any one thing was always something I try not to do simply because of the possible letdown factor," Benetti said.

"When I called Brooks, and he called me back a few hours later that day, he called me back and said, 'We are interested in talking to you,' and I thought OK. A lot of people are interested in talking to you. Then I met with the group of people who were involved and I thought it went pretty well. I didn't hear anything for a little while.

"And then I got another phone call to come back and meet a couple of more people including (White Sox chairman) Jerry Reinsdorf and I thought, 'Oh, my gosh. This might happen.' I actually got that phone call, I had a Syracuse-Colgate basketball game for ESPNU in December, I got that phone call about an hour before tip-off - 'Hey, can you fly in and meet with Jerry and a couple of other people?'

"It went fine. It was great. I met Jerry and some folks with Comcast. Then I met Steve Stone for dinner a couple of weeks later and not long ago I got a phone call from (director of business development/broadcasting) Bob Grim with the Sox to extend me the offer."

Now that he is officially in the Sox' TV booth with Stone for half of the season, Benetti is not going to try duplicating Harrelson's unique style.

"One of the things that Hawk told me was be yourself," said Benetti, who got his undergraduate degree in broadcast journalism at Syracuse and law degree at Wake Forest. "I was grateful he said that because when the person you are going to be sharing a home and road both with, when he tells you to do that, there's something really comforting.

"In my study of announcers, I know people have their own styles and you are just going to be yourself and you have to refine that. But at some point, you decide this is who I am, what my personality is, this is what I like to do a game like and then you just get behind that."

Born with cerebral palsy, Benetti has become a prominent voice within the CP community. He is part of the Cerebral Palsy Foundation's "Just Say Hi" campaign that launched in 2015, and has worked with ESPN's ENABLED, the network's resource group that celebrates and addresses employee diversity, including people with disabilities.

"The way I look or walk is such a small part of who I am as a person," Benetti said. "I like to joke that fortunately, I chose a profession where all I needed was my voice, not my legs. I have always felt that if I can help one other person, or if I can help change one person's attitude about how they perceive others, then I have made a positive difference."

Harrelson and Stone both agreed to multiyear extensions Wednesday.