Established in 2004 by the Texas Baseball Hall of Fame, the Toy Cannon Award for outstanding community service is presented annually by its namesake, Jimmy “The Toy Cannon” Wynn. This year we honor the legendary Milo Hamilton, whose contributions to baseball and the community throughout his career stand as shining examples for current and future generations.

Born in Fairfield, Iowa, Milo Hamilton graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in radio speech. He is the father of two children: Patricia Joy and Mark.

Milo began his baseball-broadcasting career in the Three I League in Davenport, Iowa in 1950. His big league on-air career has included stops with the St. Louis Browns (1953), St. Louis Cardinals (1954), Chicago Cubs (1956-57 and 1980-84), Chicago White Sox (1962-65), Atlanta Braves (1966-75), Pittsburgh Pirates (1976-79), and Houston Astros (1985-present).

Among his many highlights, Milo was behind the microphone for 11 no-hitters, Ernie Banks’s five grand slams in a season, Roger Maris’s 61st homer in 1961 (recreated on Western Union ticker), and Henry Aaron’s historic 715th homer in 1974. He was on the Cardinals’ broadcast crew when Stan Musial hit his record-breaking fifth home run in a doubleheader, and he was doing the play-by-play 18 years later when San Diego’s Nate Colbert duplicated Musial’s feat. He also called Barry Bonds’s Major League record-tying 70th home run in 2001, and the Astros historic six-pitcher, combined no-hitter in 2003.

Throughout his 60-year broadcasting career, Milo has helped raise more than $2 million for various charities as master of ceremonies at auctions, March of Dimes, Epilepsy Association, City of Hope, American Cancer Society, Leukemia Society of America, and the Texas Baseball Hall of Fame.

In addition to his remarkable career in baseball, Hamilton has considerable experience broadcasting a wide variety of sports, including Kentucky Wildcats basketball, the Chicago Bulls, DePaul Blue Demons, and Southwest Conference basketball.

Hamilton’s numerous awards include induction into the Texas Baseball Hall of Fame in 1994, the Texas Radio Hall of Fame in 2000, and the Ford C. Frick Award from the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1992.