Travis Yoesting (photo by Sarah A. Miller/Tyler Morning Telegraph)

 

Baseball lost a legend on Thursday, but this man never took an at bat, threw a pitch or called for a double switch.He merely called Major League Baseball games for seven decades, including nearly 30 years as the Astros radio play-by-play announcer.

Milo Hamilton’s voice was a fixture in my family’s house and cars growing up, as he was for many Houstonians.

Hamilton joined the Astros the year I was born and was the team’s lead voice for almost my entire life. He trails only Vin Scully for most years calling MLB games and has done so in a record 59 different stadiums before retiring in 2012.

I don’t know that I’ve enjoyed listening to any voice more than that of dear Milo, who sadly passed away at the age of 88 on Thursday.

It’s difficult to put a finger on what exactly makes a great play-by-play man for baseball. The game’s slow pace requires a methodic cadence and at the same time strong descriptive skills.

Hamilton got his start in 1945 at age 18 calling games in Guam for the Armed Forces Radio. He had a smooth voice and always knew what to say, whether it was a scouting report on a middle reliever or his trademark “Holy Toledo!” after a big play.

Baseball’s day-to-day grind meant Hamilton was a nightly fixture on the radio, and thus in our lives. Through shared successes and failures, it was a relationship that felt meaningful, despite never seeing his face.

With his passing, I looked back at many of his iconic calls and was struck by how many of those events I remember vividly, even if I wasn’t necessarily listening to the radio at the time.

Perhaps his biggest call came before my time, when he was working for the Atlanta Braves in 1974.

A fellow by the name of Hank Aaron was hitting home runs left and right, and on April 8 of that year he became baseball’s home run king, passing Babe Ruth with this call from Hamilton:

“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 be … outta here! It’s gone! It’s 715! There’s a new home run champion of all time, and it’s Henry Aaron!”

Then there was his call for what may be one of the most clutch performances ever at the Astrodome outside of Earl Campbell on a Monday night.

On Sept. 25, 1986, two weeks after my first birthday and on my dad’s birthday, Mike Scott hurled an epic no-hitter against the Giants to clinch the NL West title for the Astros:

“Game is over! No-hitter! Astros win the championship! What a way to do it! A no-hitter! Mike Scott has just thrown his first career no-hitter, and the Astros are the National League champions of the West!”

Obviously I was too young to remember it at the time, but his “What a way to do it!” was so typical of his perfect delivery combining excitement without over doing it like a Gus Johnson.

In 2003, Hamilton called another Astros no-hitter, one of 11 no-nos he announced in his career.

Back in the early days of interleague play, before the novelty had worn off, Houston (then still an NL team, as it should be) visited the New York Yankees.

After an early injury to Roy Oswalt, a record six Astros pitchers combined on a memorable no-hitter. The last time the Yankees had been no-hit was 1958.

I remember watching the game at home with my dad and brother; Milo set the scene:

“The crowd is up here. The Yankees haven’t had anybody on base with a hit yet. Bouncer, first base! Bagwell to Wagner! It’s a no-no at New York for six Houston pitchers!”

There was one bittersweet call by Hamilton that haunts me a bit, but it was such a joyous occasion I can’t be too upset.

On June 28, 2007, Craig Biggio entered a game against the Rockies with 2,997 hits. My brother and I had tickets to the next day’s game, so as Biggio started the game off with a couple hits I thought, great, I’m going to get to see him hit 3,000.

The only problem was, Biggio – with Hakeem Olajuwon my favorite player of all time – didn’t stop there.

I was watching from a Buffalo Wild Wings in College Station, but Hamilton’s call was more memorable than any chicken wings ever could be:

“2-0 pitch. Swinging. There it is! Here comes (Brad) Ausmus. The score is tied. Bidge wants to make it a double, and he’s gonna be out! He didn’t get the trademark, but he did get 3,000 hits! … History at Minute Maid Park in downtown Houston! We have the newest member of the 3,000-hit club!”

Though I had to settle for being a part of celebrating Biggio the next day, I was in the stadium for my favorite Hamilton call of all time.

Had I opted, as did some of my friends and many thousands at Minute Maid Park, to leave at any point before the 18th inning, I might have heard Hamilton’s call on the drive back to College Station.

Instead, my sister and I, way up high in the second-to-worst seats in the entire stadium, watched one of the greatest baseball games in playoff history.

On Oct. 9, 2005, before they could make their first World Series appearance, the Astros trailed the Braves 6-1 entering the bottom of the eighth in Game 4, leading the series 2-1.

Then Lance Berkman launched a grand slam in the eighth. Brad Ausmus’ barely-home run in the ninth sent the game to extras.

Then came nearly an entire full game of free baseball, with the legendary Roger Clemens – before he became a derided, accused steroid user – coming out of the bullpen with three innings of shutout ball.

It was just enough to set up the play of the game. With one out in the bottom of the 18th, Chris Burke launched a drive that just cleared the wall in left field into the Crawford Boxes.

Being in the top left corner of the stadium, my sister and I didn’t even see where the ball landed, and merely had to go on the celebrations and fireworks going off to realize our team had won.

Fortunately, I can listen back to Hamilton’s call:

“Burke is the batter. Ensberg is on deck. And the pitch. Swinging! Lining it to left! Iiiiiiit’s gone! It’s gone! It’s gone! … Chris Burke! Holy Toledo, what a way to finish!”

Hamilton is now gone, but holy Toledo his voice won’t be forgotten.

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