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The Spectacle Blog
Long time Houston Astros radio play-by-play broadcaster Milo Hamilton will be calling Astros game for one more season and then will pass on the mike. Hamilton will remain with the Astros in a yet to be determined capacity when the team moves to the American League in 2013.
Hamilton has been in the radio booth for nearly 60 years. Only legendary Dodgers play-by-play man Vin Scully has been broadcasting baseball games longer than Hamilton. He first began broadcasting back in 1953 with the St. Louis Browns. Hamilton has also broadcast for the St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs (twice), Chicago White Sox, Pittsburgh Pirates and the Atlanta Braves. The Baseball Hall of Fame bestowed with the Ford C. Frick Award in 1992.
Although Hamilton has been with the Astros for more than 25 years, he is undoubtedly best remembered for calling Hank Aaron’s then record setting 715th homerun on April 8, 1974 towards the end of his stint in the Braves broadcast booth.
sipbourbon| 2.16.12 @ 12:20AM
I'll never forget the look on heir-apparent Milo's face when, after the late, great, Jack Brickhouse retired, the Cubs announced the hiring of Harry Caray. Poor Milo looked gobsmacked. I also remember him once anachronistically exclaiming the Cubs were "hotter than a depot stove!".
feimeng | 2.16.12 @ 2:12AM
Honduran President Porfirio Lobo announced he was firing top administrators from the Comayagua facility and the broader prison system while officials sought more details about what happened.
Bob Grant| 2.16.12 @ 9:22AM
Mr. Goldstein,
That's an amazing fact. 60 years in the broadcast booth!!
So your saying he could have potentially called (60X162) 9,720 games over the span of his career? ...incredible!!
What's more incredible is he potentially ate 9,720 concession stand meals and lived to tell about it.
Aaron Goldstein| 2.16.12 @ 11:48AM
Well, not quite 9,720 games. But close.
The NL didn't adopt the 162 game schedule until 1962 when it expanded with the New York Mets and the Houston Colt 45s. Before '62, the season schedule was 154 games.
Aaron Goldstein| 2.16.12 @ 3:33PM
I should also mention that since 2005, Hamilton has largely only done home games. Although this season he will make road trips to Miami and Detroit to add to the ballparks where he has done a broadcast. But for the past few years, it's been an 81-game schedule for Hamilton.
Bob Grant| 2.16.12 @ 7:52PM
Well,
I've never had the pleasure of listening to one of his games but respect the announcers from that era, when he was in his prime.
The Rangers lost one of their early broadcasters - Merle Harman - several years ago and listening/watching the games was never really the same, although Mark Holtz did a good job.
Sounds like he was from the same mold as Mr. Hamilton.
mjs_pa| 2.16.12 @ 9:26AM
I learned to love baseball as a small boy listening to Milo Hamilton doing play-by-play during the Pirates legendary "We Are Family" season of 1979. (The games usually finished past my bed time so I'd curl up under the blanket with my transistor radio.)
It broke my heart when Milo left Pittsburgh, and the void in the Pittsburgh broadcast booth has never been filled.
I'm sure the people of Houston and the baseball world will feel the same when Milo broadcasts his last game.
Tom| 2.16.12 @ 4:49PM
Hamilton's big problem in Pittsburgh was that he was the Pirates' broadcaster after the legendary Bob Prince was fired due to his running afoul of some Westminghouse big shot corporate executives. Prince was so popular in Pittsburgh that they had a parade in his honor after the firing, and thousands of people lined the street for "The Gunner."
Although the Pirates today are a total embarressment; back in the 1970s they were one of the elite franchises in baseball. Once upon a time, they were even more popular than the Steelers. Allowing Bob Prince to be fired was one of the biggest mistakes they ever made. Pirate games just were not the same after that.
Stumpy Pepys| 2.16.12 @ 10:02AM
There was always something special about baseball on the radio before television changed the sports-media landscape. As a kid, I often fell asleep listening to Milo Hamilton calling Braves games, and not only could he paint a crystal-clear picture of the action, but he was also able to convey the personalities of the players: Henry Aaron, Knucksie, Felipe Alou, Rico Carty, Joe Torre, Felix Milan (the Kitten), Pat Jarvis (the Little Bulldog), Clete Boyer, et al. I was devastated when the Braves fired him. He is one of the all-time greats, and I am pleased to learn that he's still practicing his craft. One of the joys of growing older is that even little memories can stir great emotion, and you have made my day by mentioning the name of Milo Hamilton.
Neal| 2.16.12 @ 11:22AM
Growing up in Wisconsin I was fortunate enough to have Bob Uecker do Brewers games and the late Jim Irwin do the Packers and Badgers.
Announcers coming up now are dull and repitive,not unlike a certain GOP candidate from Massachussetts.
JJ| 2.16.12 @ 11:52AM
Wow, talk about bringing back memories of growing up in Chicago and watching WGN.
Mr B| 2.16.12 @ 5:33PM
I really enjoy your comments on all things baseball and I consider you to be as insightful on the relative values of players and the merits of the ancillary parts of the game as anyone I've ever read.
As a lifelong Cincinnati fan, let me tout the gifts of a former Reds' play-by-play radio announcer who has gone on to much bigger assignments after his too-short stint with the Reds organization. That announcer was Al Michaels. Michaels was as good a baseball play-by-play announcer as any I've heard. Despite the fact that he was an employee of the Reds' organization, he was not a "cheerleader" for the team. His characteristically succinct and unemotional descriptions of the on-field play made listening to the radio broadcasts a real pleasure.
I apologize if this is comment is too off-topic.
Aaron Goldstein| 2.16.12 @ 6:06PM
I appreciate your comment about Al Michaels.
You are right to describe his style as "characteristically succinct and unemotional" although he certainly showed his emotions when Johnny Bench took Dave Giusti deep in Game 5 of the 1972 NLCS between the Reds and Pirates, when Dave Henderson took the late Donnie Moore deep in Game 5 of the 1986 ALCS between the Red Sox and Angels and, of course, when the United States defeated the USSR in "The Miracle on Ice" in the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York.
Beach Aten| 2.20.12 @ 12:01AM
I used to listen to a Top 40 pop music DJ on WIND radio in Chicago in the 1950's named Milo Hamilton.
Any relation?
karencoach | 4.21.12 @ 3:51AM
so nice site and great news ,thank you for sharing it!