Milo Hamilton, who famously called Hank Aaron’s 715th home run on Braves radio in 1974, has died. He’s sittin’ on 714. “Swinging, there’s a drive to left centerfield”. That ball is going to be… out of here!
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Hamilton landed in Chicago, where he called Cubs and White Sox games before becoming the lead Braves announcer in 1956, when the team moved from Milwaukee to Atlanta. “He truly is an icon and is synonymous with Astros baseball”.
Hamilton was born in Fairfield, Iowa in 1927. It was calling baseball games where Milo shined and following his graduation he got his first job in Major League Baseball doing play-by-play for the St. Louis Browns in 1953. He would go on to spend parts of seven decades calling Major League games. He also won the Ford C. Frick Award in 1992.
At the conclusion of the ’81 season, Brickhouse announced on WGN-TV that Hamilton would succeed him as the play-by-play voice of the Cubs. “Holy Toledo, what a good man he was – and we were fortunate to know him”.
Hamilton retired from the Astros in 2012, but was still a regular at Minute Maid Park. Likely, if Houston were to have a chance at hosting a playoff game (either for the Wild Card or the ALDS), someone close to Hamilton would be honored, though nothing is certain yet.
Earlier this year, I reached a milestone in my career where I was accepted by Major League Baseball to receive credential to cover professional baseball. “It’s gone, 715! There’s a new home run champion of all time and it’s Henry Aaron”. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, broadcasting on Armed Forces Radio. “We probably spoke twice a week and a lot of times just about the team or life or whatever”, Sparks said. He worked Astros games from 1987 until his retirement in 2012.
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“It’s been a great game for me. I felt it was something I had to say, but I haven’t said anything about it since”, Hamilton told the Tribune eight years ago. His daughter Patricia died in 2006. Fans in Braves country and throughout the nation fondly remember his iconic call of our own Hank Aaron breaking Babe Ruth’s home run record in 1974.
