Hall of Fame broadcaster Milo Hamilton has a personal rooting interest in seeing a White Sox-Astros World Series.
Hamilton worked White Sox broadcasts from 1962 to ’65 with legendary Bob Elson.
“There were a couple of those Sox teams that I felt were good enough to get in the World Series,” said Hamilton, who was in St. Louis for Game 1 of the National League Championship Series. He has been calling Astros games since 1985.
“The White Sox had Joe Horlen, Gary Peters and all those guys [in 1965]. But they stubbed their toe after Labor Day against the Washington Senators. They had a makeup doubleheader and got beat in both games. The Twins went on to be in the World Series.”
Hamilton, who also called Cubs games on WGN-Ch. 9, remembers the days when the White Sox were the top draw in Chicago.
“Al Lopez is one of my favorite all-time managers, and the White Sox had some interesting ballclubs in those days,” Hamilton said. “It was the end of Nellie Fox’s career. But he was still a productive player. And we got Moose Skowron in a deal. Pete Ward had a couple of good years with the bat, along with the catchers Camilo Carreon and Sherm Lollar. . . . It was a good ballclub.”
Hamilton said he will not travel regularly next season to broadcast Astros games. He does plan to visit U.S. Cellular Field with the Astros next season, as well as Detroit’s Comerica Park.
“That will make 52 and 53 parks I have worked in over the years,” he said.
Word on the street
Hamilton has a book coming out in February that expresses his dislike for legendary broadcaster Harry Caray. Hamilton felt he was passed over unfairly for the lead play-by-play role when Tribune Co. bought the Cubs in 1981.
One excerpt of the book, co-written by Bob Ibach and Dan Schlossberg and produced by Sports Publishing, LLC, reads: “Being around Caray day after day could be a challenge. A real challenge. Harry handled everybody like he handled the players. You could be the traveling secretary, the PR guy, or whoever. If a player made an error on a Tuesday and it cost you a game, he rode that error for a week. Hell, he practically ran poor Kenny Boyer out of town in St. Louis. He rode managers. He rode players . . . it didn’t matter. He treated everyone that way who got in his way or who made a mistake. He was a miserable human being.” . . . Sources say at least one Cubs official was floating the idea of asking veteran Greg Maddux to serve as pitching coach, as well as resuming his Hall of Fame career on the mound if Larry Rothschild had accepted an offer from the Detroit Tigers. It certainly would have been a way for the club to save some money. Maddux’s brother, Mike, is the pitching coach for Milwaukee.
Sights seen
According to www.whitesoxinteractive.com, the Sox are 20-51 (.392 winning percentage) visiting West Coast teams since 2001. That includes 20 games in Anaheim, 24 games in Oakland, 21 games in Seattle, three games in Los Angeles, three games in San Diego. The Sox are 5-15 in Anaheim. . . . According to TicketsNow.com, tickets sold for as high as $2,035 to sit right behind the Sox dugout for Game 1 and $2,055 for Game 2 of the ALCS. . . . Hall of Fame outfielder Lou Brock, part of what’s regarded as the worst trade in Cubs history, threw out the first pitch before Wednesday night’s NLCS opener at Busch Stadium.
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fmitchell@tribune.com
