Hall-of-Fame
Broadcaster, Started with Browns, to Speak at Browns Luncheon
Houston Astros broadcaster Milo Hamilton, an inductee in
the broadcasters’ wing of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, will be a
featured speaker at the St. Louis Browns Fan Club lunch on June 14, 2012.
The lunch is set for 11:30 a.m. at the Holiday Inn St.
Louis Southwest-Viking Conference Center.
Hamilton is a sportscaster best-known for his
stints with the Astros, Chicago Cubs and Atlanta Braves and for famous calls
like Henry Aaron’s record 715th homerun.
But what is often forgotten is that he launched his long and
distinguished broadcasting career with none other than the St. Louis
Browns.
He got his start with the Browns
in 1953, as play-by-play announcer on the TV side, broadcasting the games on
KSD-TV (now KSDK-TV). KSD-TV is itself distinguished in the annals of
television broadcasting: it is the eighth TV station
in the United States and
the second west
of the Mississippi River.
Like most St. Louis Browns employees in 1953, and indeed
many players, Milo did not move with the team to Baltimore for
1954. Instead, he jumped to the St. Louis Cardinals, where he
worked
alongside Harry Caray and Jack Buck during the 1954
season. He later moved to
the Chicago Cubs, partnering with
Jack Brickhouse, Vince Lloyd and, eventually,
Harry Caray
again. [Caray is another
Hall of Fame broadcaster who called
Brownies games early in his career –Ed.]
Milo also did stints with the White Sox and the Pirates
and, as of the beginning of
2012, he has
broadcast major league games in 59 different ballparks. Milo has received
numerous awards for his work in broadcasting.
In 1992, he received his
induction in the National Baseball Hall of Fame by receiving the Ford Frick
Award.
In 2000 he was inducted into the
National Radio Hall of Fame. He is also a member of the Texas Radio Hall of
Fame.
To make a reservation for the luncheon, go to:
http://thestlbrowns.blogspot.com.
Baseball Hall of Fame Song Writer Writes New
Tunes About Beloved Browns
By Emmett
McAuliffe, St. Louis Browns Fan Club Board
One of the
duties of your Browns Board of Directors is to follow up on leads of all kinds.
Sometimes this involves pursuing new directions that the club has never taken
before.
Imagine our
surprise when the opportunity dropped in our laps to have two brand-new songs
written about our beloved Browns.
In this case,
the songwriter was none other than Joe Pickering Jr. who has written songs for
HBO Films and has four albums of material in the national Baseball Hall Of Fame
and Museum's sound collection. Joe was interested in writing new song about
the Browns, and was not going to charge us anything, and all we had to do was
work with him by providing him some of the history and lore of the team. Which
naturally we were happy to do.
The result of
this collaboration is "Brownie Pop Flies", a delightful song with a catchy hook
and another called "First in Booze, First in Shoes." The lyrics for "Pop Flies"
are a meditation, of sorts, on the Browns penchant for hitting the ball in the
air rather than on a line. The singer of "Brownie Pop Flies" is Danny Mack, who
is a member of a Hall of Fame in his own right: the Country Music Association of
America Hall of Fame. The song features full instrumentation including guitar,
bass, banjo, and piano.
"First in Booze, First in Shoes" is sung
by Phil Coley who has produced and played on more than 100 albums, which were
all recorded in his studio. His radio spots can be heard daily around the West
GA. area. Songwriters from all over the United States use Phil to demo their
songs. Whether Phil is playing guitar, producing music, or writing music, he can
be counted on to give a 100 percent in any situation.
Both songs
are available for digital download at CD Baby. Other online outlets will be
available soon, as well as a compact disc edition. CD Baby also allows a free
streaming sample of the songs so that you can make up your mind about the $.99
purchase per song.
We hope that you will support Joe and reward
him in his efforts. And may his songs spark a renaissance of some new Browns
art, story, song and "lore".
~~~~~
The song is now available on digital download from CD Baby and soon
available on Apple I Tunes, Amazon, Napster, etc. You can purchase a digital
download from CD Baby at this link: