Milo Hamilton to announce broadcast retirement

[J.R.]

Hall of Fame announcer Milo Hamilton is expected to announce Wednesday afternoon that 2012 will be his final year as the Astros’ lead radio play-by-play announcer on home games.

Hamilton, 84, will continue to be associated with the team in a variety of promotional activities and other duties in 2013 and beyond, but 2012 will be his last year on radio doing Astros games on a regular basis.

An Astros official would not confirm the scheduled news conference, and Hamilton declined comment Tuesday afternoon. However, two people with knowledge of the situation confirmed plans for the announcement, and local advertising agencies received notice Tuesday that Hamilton has scheduled his announcement for Wednesday.

Hamilton joined the Astros in 1985 in his fourth decade of Major League Baseball broadcasting after stints with the Browns, Cardinals, White Sox, Cubs, Pirates and Braves dating back to 1953. He assumed the unquestioned lead broadcaster’s role in 1987 and this year celebrates his 28th year with the team and his 57th year calling MLB games.

Hamilton acknowledged last year he would probably not be in the radio booth when the Astros move in 2013 to the American League but said he probably would be around “in some capacity.”

http://blog.chron.com/ultimateastros/2012/02/14/astros-radio-icon-milo-hamilton-to-announce-broadcast-retirement/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

[kidcave9]

He will be missed..

[REEKO_HTOWN]

Talk about a major rebuild. This orginazation will be unrecognizable next season

[codell]

He may have deteriorated over the years, but you can't dismiss 65 years of broadcasting regardless.

Good job Milo.

[TheresTheDagger]

Feels almost like Houston getting a expansion franchise.

New owner.
New league.
New announcer.
No recognizable players.

[Fyreball]

Wow, maybe they SHOULD go ahead and change the name of the team. It's gonna be unrecognizable anyways.

65 years of service from Milo. While I wasn't his biggest fans these past few years (having to listen for 3+ innings just to get a score update, him neglecting to call the plays on the field while he was in the middle of a story, etc), he's still one of the guys who make the sport what it is. Thank you Milo.

[pouhe]

Well, there's your Hall of Famer.

[leroy]

There is a god.

I'll happily acknowledge his place in history. But you cannot argue that he's been simply terrible for a long time. I'm not sure I can forgive him for how poorly he called the final out in the 2005 NLCS...marking the Astros first trip to the World Series. He called it like it was the 2nd out in the 3rd inning of a random spring training game. Listening to him drool over every female that comes within 20 ft of the booth is disgusting. Not hearing a score for innings upon innings is just plain annoying. The dramatic pause when a pitch is hit into play is frustrating...

"And here's the pitch...







Let's welcome all the groups that made it out to the park tonight."


I can now renew my "Call up Mike Capps" campaign. He's the radio announcer for the Round Rock Express. He is as good as it gets. If you ever get a chance to listen to him, do so. He calls the game as a fan would dream to.

[tellitlikeitis]

Wow. I was at FanFest this past weekend and Milo said that he was so re-energized that he could call games for 3 more years. 3 more years would have meant that he would have called games for 70 years.

I always enjoyed listening to him, although he was certainly slipping towards the latter stages of his career. I don't like Dave Raymond or Brett Dolan, but I can tolerate them somewhat.

[tellitlikeitis]

And yeah, I listened to him, George Postolos, Brad Mills, and Jeff Luhnow talk about the season. Milo looked pretty bored up on the stand.

[moonsh0t]

I have some fond memories of my parents turning on the radio to listen to Astros games after dinner since they were behind the curve on getting cable so that was the only option if we wanted to catch the game.

One game that stands out in my memory was the DK no hitter. I remember listening to that around the kitchen table, hanging on every word.

Thanks for the good memories Milo.

[Uprising]

Damn. First the Rockets with the changes....now Astros.

Radio just doesn't seem the same.

[Kam]

Good job Crane-o.


Kammyo was hating Milo-lo a lot these days.

[cardpire]

haha. thread is cracking me up. i salute the man, and recognize and respect his past, but he was downright comical to listen to the past couple years. can't say i will miss him at this point. happy trails, milo.

[arkoe]

Love Milo but... this should have happened a decade ago.

[tellitlikeitis]

Whoops, I'm trippin' a bit. 3 more years would have put Milo at 60 years of broadcasting.

[Nook]

I appreciate the fact Milo is one of a dying breed, a lifer that started at an earlier age than anyone today would... Further I appreciate that he has been part of the Astros for over 25 years...

Having said that, he is a bad guy... And I will leave it at that.

[juicystream]

Feels almost like Houston getting a expansion franchise.

New owner.
New league.
New announcer.
No recognizable players.

Come on now. Carlos Lee is still here. And lets not forget our longest tenured player, Humberto Quintero. :o

[DonnyMost]

It was time.

[juicystream]

It was time.

Past time.

[Rocketman95]

Having said that, he is a bad guy... And I will leave it at that.

Booo!

[edwardc]

He will be missed a true hall of famer .

[TheChosenOne]

I appreciate the fact Milo is one of a dying breed, a lifer that started at an earlier age than anyone today would... Further I appreciate that he has been part of the Astros for over 25 years...

Having said that, he is a bad guy... And I will leave it at that.

Huh???

[ima_drummer2k]

I respect the guy's place in history, etc etc etc...but like someone else said...this is a decade too late.

I remember him being almost unlistenable as far back as the late 90's.

"Here's the pitch...swinging.....aaaaand..[awkward silence as crowd goes crazy]......WHOOOOOO-ooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-OOOOO!!!!!! HOOOOLEEEEE TOLEDO!!!!!!!"

Uh......it sounds like something exciting just happened, but I have no idea what it was.

He seemed too eager to get all of his HOF catchphrases in than actually telling us what just happened. And as a rule, I'm not a fan of broadcasters/writers who think they're bigger than the game. That was definitely Milo.

Gene Elston >>>> Milo the HOF'er

[REEKO_HTOWN]

Having said that, he is a bad guy... And I will leave it at that.

No, please continue.

[leroy]

No, please continue.

I've heard the same thing but no specifics. So, please Nook, continue.

[MadMax]

I'll quote my 11 year old upon hearing this announcement: "good news. we'll finally know what the score is."

[cardpire]

I've heard the same thing but no specifics. So, please Nook, continue.

i third this. please continue, Nook. i'm putting my bet in for sexual harassment galore. guy has dirty old man written all over him. that said, i apologize if my prediction is wrong, milo.

[Pete the Cheat]

i third this. please continue, Nook. i'm putting my bet in for sexual harassment galore. guy has dirty old man written all over him. that said, i apologize if my prediction is wrong, milo.

ding ding ding, you nailed it

he comes off as a bitter old man coot in regards to his feud with Harry Caray as well

[cardpire]

ding ding ding, you nailed it


gross, yet i want to hear as much as possible :grin:.

and i didn't even know him and caray had a beef.

[weslinder]

It might have been sour grapes, but Alan Ashby said that Milo had a huge ego and was hard to work with. I loved Milo as a kid, but I've just tolerated him for the past 10 years or so. It's past time to move on.

[Fyreball]

gross, yet i want to hear as much as possible :grin:.

and i didn't even know him and caray had a beef.

http://www.cantstopthebleeding.com/hamilton-harry-was-a-miserable-human-being

Hamilton flat out HATED Caray. There was an account at some chariy event where Hamilton literally called Caray a "son of a bitch" in front of like 5000 attendees.

[J.R.]

Milo on a mobile (http://www.1560thegame.com/audio/milo-on-a-mobile-joins-us-with-a-surprising-announcement-3505/) :grin:

[Stack24]

Class act and an end of an era. Glad I got to at least know him personally for about 3 seasons when we used to do the radio show live at the bar. Was a great guy all around.

[J.R.]

Says Mike Scott's no hitter his greatest or most memorable call for the Astros. Biggio's 3000th hit probably second. Says Hank Aaron's 715th HR his greatest or most memorable call ever.

[Plowman]

I respect the guy's place in history, etc etc etc...but like someone else said...this is a decade too late.

I remember him being almost unlistenable as far back as the late 90's.

"Here's the pitch...swinging.....aaaaand..[awkward silence as crowd goes crazy]......WHOOOOOO-ooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-OOOOO!!!!!! HOOOOLEEEEE TOLEDO!!!!!!!"

Uh......it sounds like something exciting just happened, but I have no idea what it was.

He seemed too eager to get all of his HOF catchphrases in than actually telling us what just happened. And as a rule, I'm not a fan of broadcasters/writers who think they're bigger than the game. That was definitely Milo.

Gene Elston >>>> Milo the HOF'er

This^^^^^^^^

[leroy]

Says Mike Scott's no hitter his greatest or most memorable call for the Astros. Biggio's 3000th hit probably second. Says Hank Aaron's 715th HR his greatest or most memorable call ever.

Not surprising since he completely blew the call to end the 2005 NLCS.

[ima_drummer2k]

Says Mike Scott's no hitter his greatest or most memorable call for the Astros. Biggio's 3000th hit probably second. Says Hank Aaron's 715th HR his greatest or most memorable call ever.

Sounds like he was talking about his favorite subject again - himself.

[MadMax]

Not surprising since he completely blew the call to end the 2005 NLCS.

did he really? what did he say?

[Fyreball]

did he really? what did he say?

From what I recall, the problem was that he really just said nothing. It was one of the most lackluster calls ever. It rivaled Joe Buck's call of the David Tyree catch in the Super Bowl.

[jdh008]

I have respect for Milo because he has been doing it for a long, long time, but I'm not a big fan of his.

I know there are a lot of folks out there that dislike Richard Justice, but I have always agreed with him when it came to his thoughts on Milo.

Even though he has gone out of his way to deny this, Milo has always had this need to try to make the big moments about himself. Justice was on 1560 a few years back and told a story about how he had recently done a story on Aaron's 715th. A few days after the story was published, Milo point blank asked him how he could do a story about Aaron's 715th and not mention him anywhere in the story.

I'll also have this lasting memory of Milo away from the booth. I was at the Houston College Classic about five years ago when they did Astros Fanfest the same weekend. Milo had just gotten done doing a town hall type interview with fans over behind the Crawford Boxes. The national anthem started playing before the first pitch of the next game in the tournament. All of the fans that were milling about stopped and recognized the anthem. Behind where I was standing, though, Milo was having a full conversation with someone during the anthem. Not at a whisper, but in his full voice. As if the anthem wasn't even going on.

[Robert Snyder]

One story that doesn't get told a lot is that Milo jerry-rigged the Braves announcing rotation during Hank Aaron's chase to 715 to where he was always announcing on radio when Aaron came up to bat.

One place that recounts the incident: http://www.talkingchop.com/2011/9/18/2432465/cardboard-memory-ernie-johnson

The night Hank Aaron hit home run number 715, the home run that sent him past Babe Ruth on the all time home run list, Ernie Johnson was in the radio booth for the Braves. We’ve all heard Vin Scully’s poetic call from Dodger’s radio. We’ve heard Curt Gowdy’s call for ABC television. We haven’t heard the call by Ernie Johnson though. You see, even though it was his inning to call, Milo Hamilton, as overrated an announcer as any who ever walked the planet, insisted that he be permitted to call each of Aaron’s at-bats.

I think one of the things that really grated on people (including me) during the past few decades was the over-the-top references to advertisers during the game. When the Astros joined everyone else in baseball in putting ads on the outfield wall in the mid-90's after the strike, (remember Keith Olbermann's FOX Sports ad at almost every park in the majors?) Milo went out of his way to ALWAYS mention them during the play-by-play. It's become comical over the years. Heck, I'm sure it's one of the reasons that Uncle Drayton conned Chick-Fil-A into sponsoring the foul poles at Minute Maid. Also as many have already pointed out, basic mechanics like the count, the score and judging fly balls accurately have been lost on the broadcasts for years.

During 610's run of airing the Astros from '96-'98, Milo called into the morning show every day around 8:10 with "Milo for HI-LO" (HI-LO auto parts stores merged with O'Reilly in 1998). Basically Milo had to be given free reign to 'wax poetically' about whatever he wanted. If you had ever heard those call-ins it was obvious he went over the allotted time for the segment- a lot. As he did those, he made sure to talk about HI-LO auto parts store, and it justified the air time.

I applaud Milo for his longevity. Radio/entertainment/sports is a tough business: many people to please, tough schedules, killer on the homefront, egos everywhere you go, ownership & management changes at the drop of a hat. But there is a way to go about things that can please your public (fans) and private (management, advertisers, support staff, etc) masters without trampling on everyone around you.

Another example, in my opinion, Alan Ashby should still be with the Astros, and he should be the #1 radio play-by-play announcer. He dramatically improved during 2004 & 2005 seasons and helped make the broadcasts listenable by filling in the gaps around Milo. In the radio calls of Brad Ausmus' 9th inning home run and Chris Burke's 18th inning game-winning home run in Game 4 of the 2005 NLDS Ashby had to step into Milo's calls to help describe what happened.

Here's the transcript of the radio call of Ausmus' 9th inning homer that tied the game at 6 (Milo in normal text, Ashby in bold): "Fly ball, way back into left-center field and back up into that wall; *crowd roars* No. It crashes back off the wall. Ausmus is headed- IT'S A HOMER It's a homer. IT'S GONE! It's a homer! A delayed call. *fireworks go off, train whistle in background* It came back off the facade. You thought it was in play! Oh my gosh! Home run Ausmus 6, 6 at Minute Maid Park! This ball maybe hit an inch above that line. Left of the 404 mark."

However, as we saw after the 2005 World Series, Milo won out over Ashby too.

[leroy]

did he really? what did he say?

This is the best I could find...call is right around 2:44

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/HRh6Dh9Q4Mo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[msn]

I respect the guy's place in history, etc etc etc...but like someone else said...this is a decade too late.

I remember him being almost unlistenable as far back as the late 90's.

"Here's the pitch...swinging.....aaaaand..[awkward silence as crowd goes crazy]......WHOOOOOO-ooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-OOOOO!!!!!! HOOOOLEEEEE TOLEDO!!!!!!!"

Uh......it sounds like something exciting just happened, but I have no idea what it was.

He seemed too eager to get all of his HOF catchphrases in than actually telling us what just happened. And as a rule, I'm not a fan of broadcasters/writers who think they're bigger than the game. That was definitely Milo.

Gene Elston >>>> Milo the HOF'er
You know Gene finally got his due in 2006, right?

Milo was very enjoyable in the late 80s and 90s, although it took me a while to get used to him because I hated the departure of Gene.

But yeah, the persona got on my nerves for many of the same reasons stated by others. That said, all the best old man. Please retire and have a wonderful time. Not on the radio. :D