Stephen Thomas Bilko (November 13, 1928 – March 7, 1978) was an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who ...

known for his

home run 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 ...

hitting as a minor leaguer during the 1950s. He was 20 years old when he broke into

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), ...

on September 22, 1949, with 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 ...

. 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 Nathan Hiken (June 23, 1914 – December 7, 1968) was an American radio and television writer, producer, and songwriter who rose to prominence in the 1950s. Early years Hiken was born on June 23, 1914, in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Jewish p ...

, creator of ''

The Phil Silvers Show ''The Phil Silvers Show'', originally titled ''You'll Never Get Rich'', is a sitcom which ran on CBS from 1955 to 1959. A pilot titled "Audition Show" was made in 1955, but it was never broadcast. 143 other episodes were broadcast – all half-a ...

'', supposedly took the name of the character Sgt. Bilko from the ballplayer, whose long-ball heroics for one of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

' two minor-league teams of the mid-1950s made him a local celebrity.

Biography

Bilko was born in

Nanticoke, Pennsylvania Nanticoke is a city in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 10,628, making it the third largest city in Luzerne County. It occupies 3.5 square miles of land. Nanticoke is part of Northeastern Pen ...

, in coal mining country, and made his debut with the Allentown Cardinals in 1945 at the age of 16 during the final year of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. A

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

, Bilko enjoyed his greatest fame with the

Los Angeles Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team h ...

of the Pacific Coast League 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 Triple Crown may refer to: Sports Horse racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing (United States) ** Triple Crown Trophy ** Triple Crown Productions * Canadian Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Tri ...

with a .360

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

, 55 home runs and 164

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the ba ...

; he also led the league in runs scored (163) and hits (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 (1954),

Cincinnati Redlegs Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line w ...

(),

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 ...

(1958), Detroit Tigers () and 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 ...

(–), 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 The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

hitters in strikeouts with 125. Still, it was his most productive big-league season. As an original member of the American League Angels, an expansion team, 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 Wrigley Field is a Major League Baseball (MLB) stadium on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is the home of the Chicago Cubs, one of the city's two MLB franchises. It first opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park for Charles Weeghman's Chicago ...

, 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

(432-for-1,738) with 220 runs, 76 home runs, 276 RBI, 234 bases on balls and a .444 slugging percentage. Defensively, he recorded a .992 fielding percentage 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 Ernest Banks (January 31, 1931 – January 23, 2015), nicknamed "Mr. Cub" and "Mr. Sunshine", was an American professional baseball player who starred in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a shortstop and first baseman for the Chicago Cubs between ...

, 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 The Baseball Reliquary is a nonprofit educational organization "dedicated to fostering an appreciation of American art and culture through the context of baseball history and to exploring the national pastime’s unparalleled creative possibilities ...

'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 The Ohio State Buckeyes are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio State University, located in Columbus, Ohio. The athletic programs are named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Ohio and after the state tre ...

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 The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) is a membership organization dedicated to fostering the research and dissemination of the history and record of baseball primarily through the use of statistics. Established in Cooperstown, New ...

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