Hawthorne should not be the LSU baseball announcer

First, let me say that I have probably listened to Hawthorne (and John Ferguson) as much or more than most LSU fans. I listened to John Ferguson in the 1960’s, 1970’s and early 1980’s. I've lived in Texas since 1985; I rarely miss any LSU football, basketball or baseball radio broadcast. Before Internet broadcasts, Hawthorne's voice on the radio was my eyes and ears for LSU sports. I am and have always been a Hawthorne fan; however, last night, while driving home from Houston, I listened to the LSU baseball broadcast with Hawthorne and Hanagriff and I could not have been more embarrassed. On three separate plays, Hawthorne sounded like a baseball idiot.

The first was on the ground ball to Blake Dean that was called foul. Hawthorne kept saying that "it was fair because Blake Dean was standing in fair territory when he caught the ball." Everyone with any baseball knowledge of the rules knows that it is the location of the ball (not the fielder) at the time the ball is touched that determines whether the ball is foul or fair. Hawthorne kept arguing with Hanagriff and sounded like a Little League Dad with absolutely no knowledge of the rules of baseball. If Hawthorne’s statement was correct, then a fielder could jump into fair territory to field a bunt that was rolling in foul territory to make the ball fair.

The second occurred when Hawthorne was critical of the Georgia pitcher when he was not pitching from the stretch with the bases loaded. Hawthorne said that most pitchers pitch from the stretch. Really? A majority of college and pro pitchers pitch from the windup with the bases loaded since runners don't need to be held on base. This was a moronic statement by Hawthorne.

The last one involved whether a right handed batter would prefer to face a right-handed or left-handed pitcher. Hawthorne inserted that "when I played baseball as a right handed batter, I always wanted to face a right handed pitcher because we rarely saw left handed pitching." Really? Hawthorne even said that it makes sense in the pro's to alternate pitchers because they see more left handed pitchers. Every college coach and player knows that right-handed batters want to face left-handed pitchers and vice versa and coaches know that statistics favor a right-on-right match-up or left-on-left match-up. To argue with Hanagriff on such a simple, well accepted coaching principle shows his ignorance about baseball and the strategies associated therewith.

I truly feel sorry for Hanagriff because you can tell he knows that Hawthorne is making stupid, idiotic statements, but Charlie can't embarrass or call Jim out on the radio for these stupid statements. Someone needs to grade the broadcasts and send them to Hawthorne to point out his simple mistakes about the rules or strategy. I can accept mispronouncing names and getting the action wrong during the heat of the moment, but to argue about things that are just clearly wrong is embarrassing. We have a world-class college baseball program and we need a world-class college baseball radio broadcast team.

As a baseball purist, Hawthorne’s broadcasting is unacceptable. I'm sorry, but Hawthorne is getting old, is negative in all sports, including football, basketball and baseball broadcasts and he needs to go. It obvious in football when he always says an opposing teams’ receiver is “wide-open” every time the receiver catches the ball, even though the LSU defender is a step behind.

I remember listening to John Ferguson when he was getting old and, as much as I hated to admit it back then, I knew when it was time for him to move on. Jim, it is time for you to move on. You’ve had a good run and I appreciate everything that you have done for LSU. You have been a great ambassador for LSU and I appreciate it.