Steven Absher Hamilton (November 30, 1934 – December 2, 1997) was a

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB) and

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

(NBA) player.

Basketball career

College

Hamilton attended

Morehead State University Morehead State University (MSU) is a public university in Morehead, Kentucky. The university began as Morehead Normal School, which opened its doors in 1887. The Craft Academy for Excellence in Science and Mathematics, a two-year residential ...

Morehead, Kentucky Morehead is a list of Kentucky cities, home rule-class city located along U.S. Route 60 in Kentucky, US 60 (the historic Midland Trail) and Interstate 64 in Kentucky, Interstate 64 in Rowan County, Kentucky, Rowan County, Kentucky, in the United ...

, from 1954–1958, where he excelled in basketball. He scored 1,829 points (4th all-time) and established five MSU rebounding records—single-season average (20.1), average career (16.4), single game (38), single season (543), and career (1,675). He was an All-American in 1957, and a two-time All-Ohio Valley Conference First-Team selection.

NBA

From 1958 to 1960 he was a

power forward The power forward (PF), also known as the four, is one of the five traditional positions in a regulation basketball game. Traditionally, power forwards have played a role similar to centers. When on offense, they typically play with their ba ...

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

for the

Minneapolis Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers franchise has a long and storied history, predating the formation of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Founded in 1947, the Lakers are one of the NBA's most famous and successful franchises. As of summer 2012, th ...

. He played for the 1958/59 team that lost to the Boston Celtics during the

1959 NBA Finals The 1959 NBA World Championship Series was the championship series of the 1958–59 National Basketball Association season, and was the conclusion of the 1959 NBA Playoffs. The best-of-seven series was played between the Western Division cham ...

. Over 2 seasons he averaged 4.5 points per game, 3.4 rebounds per game, and 0.5 assists per game.

Baseball career

Minors

Hamilton began pitching full time in the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive Fi ...

farm system in 1958. A starter, he pitched four full years in the

minor leagues Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in No ...

, posting records of 15-14, 14-10, 13-9, and 10-12, and throwing between 172 and 210 innings pitched each season. Early in the 1961 season he pitched briefly for the major league Cleveland franchise, pitching 3 innings in 2 appearance for the Indians. After which he pitched the balance of the season at the top level of the minors,

AAA AAA, Triple A, or Triple-A is a three-letter initialism or abbreviation which may refer to: Airports * Anaa Airport in French Polynesia (IATA airport code AAA) * Logan County Airport (Illinois) (FAA airport code AAA) Arts, entertainment, and me ...

Major League

Hamilton broke into the Major Leagues as a 26 year-old rookie in 1961. He was lanky 6' 6" lefty, who took advantage of his immense NBA-sized wingspan to throw sidearm, creating a particularly difficult angle for left-handed batters. A very rare starter, he was mostly a middle relief pitcher during his 12 MLB seasons - though he had a stint as the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...

closer during the 1968 season. His best record was 7-2 (.778% win percentage) with New York in 1964, followed by 8-3 (.727%) in 1966. His lowest

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

was 1.39 in 1965, then 2.13 in 1968. In 1963, his first season with the Yankees, he struck out over one batter per inning (63 in 62.1). In 421 career games (17 starts, 10 in 1962 alone) from 1961 to 1972 he had a 40–31 record with 42 saves and a 3.05

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

. He pitched 1 inning during the Yankees

1963 World Series The 1963 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1963 season. The 60th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff that matched the American League (AL) champion and two-time defending World Se ...

loss to the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

and 2 innings during the Yankees

1964 World Series The 1964 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1964 season. The 61st edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff that matched the National League champion St. Louis Cardinals against the Amer ...

loss to the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

, including 1 save. He also pitched in the 1971 NLCS for the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Y ...

. His one complete game

shutout In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

was on August 5, 1966, against the

, while pitching for the New York Yankees. He gave up 5 hits, walked 1 and struck out 3. It was one of only 3 starts he had in the 1966 season. Late in his career Hamilton threw what famously became known as "The Folly Floater", a high, slow

eephus pitch An eephus pitch (also spelled ephus) in baseball is a very high-arcing off-speed pitch. The delivery from the pitcher has very low velocity and often catches the hitter off-guard. The eephus pitch is thrown overhand like most pitches, but is char ...

. Other pitchers who have thrown a lob pitch include

Rip Sewell Truett Banks "Rip" Sewell (May 11, 1907 – September 3, 1989) was a right-handed starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played 13 years in the major leagues with the Detroit Tigers (1932) and Pittsburgh Pirates (1938–1949). Sewell ...

and Dave LaRoche.

Playing both sports

Hamilton pitched a full season in the minors in 1958 before he began his NBA career. In the late 1950s both the NBA and MLB seasons were much more compact, with shorter seasons (just 72 games in the NBA, and 154 in MLB), shorter preseasons, and shorter postseasons (much shorter in MLB's case, with only a single round 7-game championship series for each sport, compared to a best-of-3 followed by two rounds of best of 7 in the NBA). Hamilton pitched all of the 1958 baseball season for the B-level minor league franchise of the big league

. Its season ended in or before early September, well before the major league did (in order to allow top AAA-level minor league "call-ups" to be added to expanded big league rosters, that rose from 24 to 40 that month). Hamilton was not one of them. The 1958-59 NBA season began on October 17. The 1958 Minneapolis Lakers were swept in the Finals 0-4 by the Boston Celtics, with the last game of the series being played on April 8, 1959. Hamilton played for the Single-A Cleveland minor league franchise in 1959, which also would have ended its season around or before September 1st. The 1959 Minneapolis Lakers made the playoffs, but fell in the division finals, with the last game being played on March 25, 1960. Hamilton pitched for Cleveland's Double-A minor league franchise in 1960. The 1960 Los Angeles Lakers fell 3-4 in the division finals, the last game of which was played on April 1, 1961. Hamilton made his major league debut with the Indians on April 23, 1961, pitched in two games, then spent the balance of his season at the AAA level. By 1962 he was out of the NBA, and pitching regularly in the major leagues with the Washington Senators franchise.

Personal

After his major league career ended, he was a Detroit Tigers coach in 1975 and was the athletic director at his alma mater,

Tommy John Thomas Edward John Jr. (born May 22, 1943), nicknamed "The Bionic Man," is an American retired professional baseball pitcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for 26 seasons between 1963 and 1989. He played for the Cleveland Indians, ...

, who met Hamilton while both were in the Indians organization, recalled that "he had two prominent physical characteristics, other than his height: a protruding Adam's apple that bobbed as he spoke, and a

Nellie Fox Jacob Nelson “Nellie” Fox (December 25, 1927 – December 1, 1975) was an American professional baseball player. Fox was one of the best second basemen of all time, and the third-most difficult hitter to strike out in Major League Baseball (M ...

-sized wad of chewing tobacco in his cheek." Hamilton died of colon cancer at his home in

, on December 2, 1997, and was buried in nearby Forest Lawn Garden of Memories.

Honors

Hamilton is one of only two people to have played in both a World Series and an NBA finals. (The other is

Gene Conley Donald Eugene Conley (November 10, 1930 – July 4, 2017) was an American professional baseball and basketball player. He played as a pitcher for four teams in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1952 to 1963. Conley also played as a forward in ...

, who won both a World Series (in 1957 with the Milwaukee Braves) and an NBA finals (from 1959 to 1961 with the Boston Celtics).) Hamilton is one of 13 athletes to have played in both the

and

. The thirteen are:

Danny Ainge Daniel Ray Ainge ( ; born March 17, 1959) is an American former professional basketball player, coach, and former professional baseball player who serves as an executive for the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association (NBA). A three-s ...

, Frank Baumholtz, Hank Biasatti,

Chuck Connors Kevin Joseph Aloysius "Chuck" Connors (April 10, 1921 – November 10, 1992) was an American actor, writer, and professional basketball and baseball player. He is one of only 13 athletes in the history of American professional sports to have p ...

Dave DeBusschere David Albert DeBusschere (October 16, 1940 – May 14, 2003) was an American professional National Basketball Association (NBA) player and coach and Major League Baseball (MLB) player. He played for the Chicago White Sox of MLB in 1962 and 1963 a ...

Dick Groat Richard Morrow Groat (born November 4, 1930) is a former professional baseball and basketball player who was an eight-time All-Star shortstop and two-time World Series champion in Major League Baseball. He rates as one of the most accomplished t ...

, Hamilton,

Mark Hendrickson Mark Allan Hendrickson (born June 23, 1974) is an American former baseball and basketball player. Hendrickson was a pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) and played power forward in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and Continental Bas ...

Cotton Nash Charles Francis "Cotton" Nash (born July 24, 1942) is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) outfielder and National Basketball Association (NBA) forward. Basketball career Born in Jersey City, New Jersey, Nash played collegiately for ...

, Ron Reed, Dick Ricketts and

Howie Schultz Howard Henry Schultz (July 3, 1922 – October 30, 2009), nicknamed "Stretch" and "Steeple", was an American baseball and basketball player from St. Paul, Minnesota. Schultz won an NBA title with the Minneapolis Lakers in 1952. Schultz played in ...

References

External links

Retrosheet
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton, Steve 1934 births 1997 deaths American men's basketball players Baseball players from Kentucky Basketball players from Kentucky Burlington Indians players (1958–1964) Deaths from cancer in Kentucky Centers (basketball) Chicago Cubs players Chicago White Sox players Cleveland Indians players Deaths from colorectal cancer Detroit Tigers coaches Forwards (basketball) Jacksonville Suns players Major League Baseball pitchers Major League Baseball pitching coaches Minneapolis Lakers draft picks Minneapolis Lakers players Mobile Bears players Morehead State Eagles athletic directors Morehead State Eagles baseball coaches Morehead State Eagles baseball players Morehead State Eagles men's basketball players New York Yankees players People from Charlestown, Indiana People from Columbia, Kentucky Philadelphia Warriors draft picks Reading Indians players Salt Lake City Bees players San Francisco Giants players Washington Senators (1961–1971) players