Longtime MLB broadcaster Milo Hamilton (1927-2015)

[Guest Former Member 207]

I saw the news flash on the ESPN ticker a few minutes ago, but longtime Major League Baseball announcer Milo Hamilton passed away today at age 88.

 

Hamilton spent 27 seasons as the radio voice of the Houston Astros (1986-2012), but also had stints with the (baseball) Cardinals, both Chicago MLB teams, the Braves (their last couple of years in Milwaukee, and their first decade in Atlanta), and the Pirates. He also called Bulls games on WGN-TV in the early half of the '80s. His play-by-play career spanned more than 60 years, second only to the great Vin Scully.

 

However, his career wasn't without controversy, particularly he had a long-running feud with Harry Caray for years. They both had an adversarial relationship while both worked together in St. Louis, which led to Hamilton leaving, later going to work for the White Sox. The apex of their feud came when Caray made the move from the White Sox to the Cubs in 1982, and Hamilton was promised the Cubs' lead play-by-play job by Jack Brickhouse, then head of WGN Sports and the Cubs' lead announcer. Hamilton, at that point, was working as Brickhouse's #2 on TV, also did some work on the radio side as well. Caray was obviously a big name in Chicago and the Midwest, so Brickhouse had made the move to get Caray, and the rest was history. As a result, Hamilton left Chicago a couple of years later, and went to Houston.

 

For years, whenever the Caray name came up (he didn't have much love for Skip and Chip either), Hamilton came across as pretty bitter about Harry, mostly accusing the elder Caray of help pushing Hamilton out of the door in both St. Louis and Chicago's North Side.

 

Perhaps Hamilton's most signature moment was calling Hank Aaron's 715th home run at Atlanta (-Fulton County) Stadium on April 8, 1974, as he was the lead announcer for Braves radio. Scully, of course, called the game on Dodgers radio, and Curt Gowdy had the national TV call for NBC.

[oklahomanewsman 210]

So sad. R.I.P

[swillh2k2 203]

Another one of the announcers from the "Golden Age". His most famous call for younger fans may have been Chris Burke's walkoff, NLDS-clinching home run in 2005.