Milo Hamilton
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Leland Milo Hamilton (born September 2, 1927 in Fairfield, Iowa) has been a Major League Baseball announcer since 1953, announcing for seven different MLB teams.[1] He received the Ford Frick Award from the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1992.[2]
He is known by his middle name, which is pronounced "MY-loh".
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[edit] Early career
Hamilton was born in Fairfield, Iowa; a small town in the southeastern part of the state. He served in the United States Navy during World War II. During his time in the Navy, he broadcast on Armed Forces Radio. He graduated from the University of Iowa in 1949. After calling minor league baseball, the Tri-Cities Blackhawks of the NBA (now the Atlanta Hawks), he got his first MLB announcing job in 1953, with the St. Louis Browns of the American League. [3]
When the Browns moved to Baltimore as the Orioles, Hamilton didn't go along. Instead, he moved to the St. Louis Cardinals, where he worked alongside Harry Caray and Jack Buck during the 1954 season. However, he was fired after only one year when the Cardinals wanted a spot in the booth for Joe Garagiola.[3] He then moved to the Chicago Cubs, working alongside Jack Brickhouse and Vince Lloyd. After three years, he was fired when Cubs owner P.K. Wrigley wanted to make room for Lou Boudreau.[3]
After a four-year hiatus, Hamilton moved to the Chicago White Sox in 1961[3], serving as the assistant to longtime White Sox announcer Bob Elson.
[edit] Atlanta Braves
When the Milwaukee Braves moved to Atlanta for the 1966 season, Hamilton got the call to become the main play-by-play man for the Atlanta Braves. Hamilton's voice was already well-known in Atlanta; WGST had carried White Sox games for most of the early 1960s.
Hamilton soon became so popular that executives with Braves flagship WSB-TV credited the Braves' high ratings on television (in 1972, they garnered a prime-time 27 rating) in part to Hamilton.[3]
While in Atlanta, Hamilton called Hank Aaron's record-breaking 715th career home run in the 1974 home-opener:
| “ | Henry Aaron, in the second inning walked and scored... He's sittin' on 714... Here's the pitch by Downing... swinging... there's a drive into left-center field... that ball is gonna beeee... OUTTA HERE! IT'S GONE! IT'S 715! There's a new home run champion of all time... and it's HENRY AARON!" [4] | ” |
The Braves, however, weren't drawing very well due to some poor-to-mediocre seasons in the mid-1970s. Hamilton went as far as to criticize the poor attendance on-air. He refused to gloss over the poor attendance and was fired after the 1975 season.[3]
[edit] Pittsburgh Pirates
Hamilton briefly considered a return to St. Louis after Buck left for NBC, but pulled out of talks after learning Buck could return to the Cardinals to reclaim his job if the NBC project ("Grandstand") failed. Instead, he joined the Pittsburgh Pirates for the 1976 season, succeeding announcer Bob Prince. Any announcer would have had difficulty following the well-entrenched Prince, who had been part of the Pirates' broadcast team since 1948. While the fans immediately embraced him, the writers thought his style was too restrained (at least compared to that of Prince). [3] Hamilton was hyper-sensitive to criticism, which made a difficult situation even worse.
[edit] Chicago Cubs
Unhappy in Pittsburgh, Hamilton jumped at a chance to return to Chicago in 1980 to join the Cubs' broadcast team alongside Brickhouse, Lloyd and Boudreau. He was under the impression that he was heir-apparent to Brickhouse upon the latter's retirement; indeed, he later said that he had been "guaranteed in blood" that he would replace Brickhouse on Cubs television broadcasts in 1982.[3] Brickhouse himself called Hamilton "the voice of the Cubs for years to come" just before he retired in 1981. That plan changed when Harry Caray, discontented with new White Sox ownership, was brought in shortly after the Tribune Company bought the Cubs.
Hamilton and Caray never got along, in part because Hamilton blamed Caray for his replacement with Garagiola 27 years earlier in St. Louis.[3] Hamilton claims that during the 1984 season, their relationship got even chillier when Caray admitted to him that he'd in fact had an affair with the daughter-in-law of longtime Cardinals owner Gussie Busch--which has long been rumored to be the reason for the Cardinals firing him in 1969.[3] Hamilton also claimed that Caray said on the air that he'd mailed alimony checks to all of his ex-wives.[3]However, on the record Caray always denied that there was ever an affair.
The Cubs fired Hamilton after the 1984 season. Hamilton has blamed Caray for the firing [5]. He told author Curt Smith that officials at WGN-TV spent an hour praising him, but told him that they had to fire him because Caray didn't like him, and Caray was more important to the Cubs.[3]
Hamilton made comments critical of Caray which were published in a story after the latter's 1998 death, but Hamilton claimed in his book Making Airwaves: 60 Years at Milo's Microphone that his comments quoted in that story were actually part of a magazine article from 13 years before and that he did not in fact make the comments after Caray's death. The story prompted an angry reaction from Caray's son, Skip Caray (who had succeeded Hamilton in the Atlanta Braves' booth). In 2006, Hamilton recounted his experiences with Caray in his new book, Making Airwaves: 60 Years at Milo's Microphone. He devoted a chapter to Caray, whom he refers to as the Canary, calling him "a miserable human being."
[edit] Houston Astros
After leaving Chicago, Hamilton joined up with the Houston Astros. He spent two years as the number-two announcer behind longtime Astros voice Gene Elston (another native Iowan). Ironically, Hamilton helped push out Elston after the 1986 season much like Caray had done to him in Chicago. He has been their main announcer since 1987. On July 29, 2005, Hamilton announced that starting with the 2006 season, he would no longer accompany the club on the road, announcing only home games [6] [7].
[edit] Commentating style
Hamilton's style could be described as enthusiastic but not "over the top." His voice reminds some of a Big Band-era announcer, crisp and clear, and easy on the ears. He told Smith that Elson encouraged him to save his voice for thrilling moments, such as Aaron's 715th home run.[3]
He is also known for his catch phrase "Holy Toledo, what a play!"
[edit] Honors
Hamilton was the 1992 recipient of the Baseball Hall of Fame's Ford C. Frick Award.[1] He was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2000[8] and soon he will be inducted into the Texas Radio Hall of Fame.
[edit] Personal
His wife of nearly 53 years, Arlene, died at age 73 in February 2005. The couple had two children: Mark and Patricia. Hamilton's daughter, Patricia Joy Hamilton Watson, a former Delta Air Lines flight attendant, died on July 10, 2006 in Atlanta, three weeks after suffering a stroke.
On October 7th, 2007, Hamilton suffered a heart attack while eating lunch with his son in Houston. He was taken to The Methodist Hospital in the Texas Medical Center in Houston, where doctors discovered that one of his coronary arteries was 99% blocked. Hamilton underwent a successful angioplasty, and local media reported that he was resting comfortably.[9]
[edit] References
- ^ a b 1992 Ford C. Frick Award Winner Milo Hamilton. Baseball Hall of Fame. Retrieved on 2007-02-11.
- ^ Gary McKillips. Milo Hamilton: To Cooperstown and Back. Retrieved on 2007-02-11.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Smith, Curt (2005). Voices of Summer. New York City: Carroll & Graf. ISBN 0786714468.
- ^ [1] Baseball's Best: Hank Aaron Hits 715
- ^ [2] American Sportscasters.com - Milo Hamilton
- ^ Milo Hamilton at the Radio Hall of Fame
- ^ [3] Astros broadcaster Hamilton is man for all seasons
- ^ Sportscasters: Milo Hamilton. Radio Hall of Fame. Retrieved on 2007-02-11.
- ^ Astros announcer Hamilton recovering after heart attack
[edit] External Links
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Joe Garagiola |
Ford C. Frick Award 1992 |
Succeeded by Chuck Thompson |
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