Stephen Thomas Bilko (November 13, 1928 – March 7, 1978) was an American professional baseball player known for his home run hitting as a minor leaguer during the 1950s. He was 20 years old when he broke into Major League Baseball on September 22, 1949, with the St. Louis Cardinals. Bilko threw and batted right-handed; he was listed as tall, and , and was nicknamed "Stout Steve" during his career because of his ample girth. Nat Hiken, creator of '' The Phil Silvers Show'', supposedly took the name of the character

Sgt. Bilko ''Sgt. Bilko'' is a 1996 American Military fiction, military comedy film directed by Jonathan Lynn and written by Andy Breckman. It is an adaptation of the 1950s television series ''The Phil Silvers Show'', often informally called ''Sgt. Bilko'' ...

from the ballplayer, whose long-ball heroics for one of Los Angeles' two minor-league teams of the mid-1950s made him a local celebrity.

Biography

Bilko was born in Nanticoke, Pennsylvania, in

coal mining Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

country, and made his debut with the

Allentown Cardinals The Allentown Cardinals were a minor league baseball team. Affiliated with the St. Louis Cardinals, they played in the Class B Interstate League between 1944 and 1952; then in the Class A Eastern League from 1954 to 1956. Allentown had joined ...

in 1945 at the age of 16 during the final year of World War II. A first baseman, Bilko enjoyed his greatest fame with the Los Angeles Angels of the

Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...

from 1955–1957, when he won three consecutive PCL Most Valuable Player awards and home run titles. His greatest year came in 1956, when he won the PCL Triple Crown with a .360 batting average, 55 home runs and 164 runs batted in; he also led the league in

runs scored In baseball, a run is scored when a player advances around first, second and third base and returns safely to home plate, touching the bases in that order, before three outs are recorded and all obligations to reach base safely on batted balls ...

(163) and

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014 - a British compilation album se ...

(215). His Triple Crown year came for a pennant-winning Angels' team that won 107 games, and was sandwiched in between seasons in which Bilko belted 37 (1955) and 56 (1957) long balls. He was posthumously inducted into the Pacific Coast League Hall of Fame in 2003. In addition to the Cardinals (–), Bilko also appeared in the majors for the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

(1954), Cincinnati Redlegs (), Los Angeles Dodgers (1958),

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

() and the American League's Los Angeles Angels (–), but he never enjoyed the phenomenal success he had with the PCL Angels in the 1950s. He was the Cardinals' regular first baseman in and smashed 21 homers with 84 RBI in 154 games, but led National League hitters in

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...

s with 125. Still, it was his most productive big-league season. As an original member of the American League Angels, an

expansion team An expansion team is a new team in a sports league, usually from a city that has not hosted a team in that league before, formed with the intention of satisfying the demand for a local team from a population in a new area. Sporting leagues also ...

, he became the first player to appear for each of Los Angeles' MLB teams. Playing in his old minor-league haven, Los Angeles' Wrigley Field, Bilko responded with his second-best MLB campaign with 20 homers and 59 RBI in 1961. In 600 games over ten major-league seasons, Bilko posted a .249 batting average (432-for-1,738) with 220 runs, 76

home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

, 276

RBI RBI most often refers to: *Reserve Bank of India *Run batted in RBI may also refer to: Organisations *Radio Berlin International *Raiffeisen Bank International *Reed Business Information *Restaurant Brands International *Ruđer Bošković In ...

, 234

bases on balls A base on balls (BB), also known as a walk, occurs in baseball when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls '' balls'', and is in turn awarded first base without the possibility of being called out. The base on balls is defined in Se ...

and a .444

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at bats for a given player, ...

. Defensively, he recorded a .992

fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putouts and assists, div ...

as a first baseman. During his stay with the 1954 Cubs, announcer Bert Wilson placed Bilko at the end of what he hoped would be a soon-to-be-famous double play combination of Ernie Banks, Gene Baker and Bilko. His fanciful name for that trio was "Bingo to Bango to Bilko". However, Bilko got into only 47 games with the Wrigleys (only 22 of them at first base) before he was sent at season's end to the PCL Angels, the Cubs' top minor league affiliate, where he would become a legend. Bilko was inducted into the Baseball Reliquary's Shrine of the Eternals in 2015."Shrine of the Eternals – Inductees"
Baseball Reliquary. Retrieved 2019-08-14.

Personal life

His granddaughter, Barbara Bilko, was a goaltender in ice hockey for the Ohio State Buckeyes from 2008–09 through 2010–2011.

References

External links

*Obituary, fro
The Deadball EraThe Bilko Athletic Club: The Story of the 1956 Los Angeles AngelsCorbett, Warren, ''Steve Bilko,''
Society for American Baseball Research Biography Project {{DEFAULTSORT:Bilko, Steve 1928 births 1978 deaths Allentown Cardinals players American expatriate baseball players in Cuba American expatriate baseball players in the Dominican Republic American expatriate baseball players in Panama Baseball players from Pennsylvania Chicago Cubs players Cincinnati Redlegs players Columbus Red Birds players Detroit Tigers players Los Angeles Angels (minor league) players Los Angeles Angels players Los Angeles Dodgers players Lynchburg Cardinals players Major League Baseball first basemen Pacific Coast League MVP award winners People from Nanticoke, Pennsylvania Rochester Red Wings players St. Louis Cardinals players Salisbury Cardinals players Spokane Indians players Winston-Salem Cardinals players