Al Kaline. Jim Bunning. Casey Stengel. Billy Pierce.

Bob Miller was able to call some of baseball’s all time best players teammates, roommates and friends during a career that spanned from 1953-1962. In his first season with the Detroit Tigers in 1953 he became the youngest pitcher to defeat the New York Yankees (who went on to win the World Series that season) when he pitched five shutout innings just a few days past his 18th birthday. Two seasons later in 1955 he beat Cleveland twice in the last week of the season to knock the Indians out of first place.

Along with Dan Hampton, Mike Shanahan, John McDonough (Chicago Blackhawks), Kurt Becker (Chicago Bears) and fellow baseball man Ozzie Guillen, Miller was inducted into the Illinois Sports Hall of Fame Sept. 24. In addition to his contributions to baseball, Miller has helped raise millions of dollars for various charities since 1990.

In recognition of just a small part of he and wife Carol’s charity work, the 15th floor Oncology and Dermatology units at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and the 16th floor Oncology and Breast Cancer Units at Women’s Prentice Hospital were named in their honor in the last 10 years.

The Berwyn native (and former Berwyn Life delivery boy), Morton High School graduate, current St. Charles resident and St. Charles Man of the Year took time to talk about his charity work, his Hall of Fame induction and a few G-rated stories from his life in baseball.

Q How did you get started in your charity work?

A In 1989 I started the Swing with the Legends celebrity golf tour, and it got so big we had to expand it. It started with only retired baseball players and what I did was go around to all the major league cities and co-op with local charities. I had a database on former major league players from those towns and we’d bring them out for charity.
Eventually the sponsors got it on TV and it got so big they started bringing in guys like John Elway to play, too.

Q How has your charity work affected your life?

A Both my wife and I get a great deal of satisfaction from what we’ve done in philanthropy. We’re very, very active on the boards of various charities. We get a great deal of satisfaction from it. When you can help a charity go from making $50,000 at an event to $375,000 or $400,000 an event, it’s a good feeling.

Q How do you go about generating more revenue?

A I have a strong network of people who believe in what I do, and various hotels and airlines we work with who donate tickets or resort packages.

Q Were you emotional being inducted into the Illinois Sports Hall of Fame?

A I wouldn’t say I was emotional, but I thoroughly enjoyed it, especially being inducted with so many great players. I was pleased and honored to be included with an elite group of people like that.
 

Q What role did the Berwyn community have in shaping the player you became?

A Berwyn is a great community, a tight-knit community. I played legion ball and high school ball and had some great coaches who had a lot of commitment and discipline to making us better players.
 

Q What are some of your fondest baseball memories?

A In Detroit, I roomed with Al Kaline for two-and-a-half years and Jim Bunning for a year and a half. I was the only player ever to room with two hall of famers. I was also roommates with Frank Lary, and the year I roomed with him he won 17 straight games, beat the Yankees four times and led the league in wins.
In Cincinnati (in 1962) I got traded for Don Zimmer to go to New York to play for the Mets. I got to play for Casey Stengel, which was truly an experience. (The Mets were the worst team in the league that season), but we were in the middle of Met Mania. They were starved for baseball. We had a lot of fans. When the Giants and Dodgers left, all those fans were starved to support somebody, and it wasn’t the Yankees because all those people grew up rooting against the Yankees.
 

Q What’s an off-the-field highlight you have from your playing days?

A There used to be a TV show called “To Tell The Truth.” In 1962 I was one of three contestants. You would go up there and (four) panelists would quiz to try and find out if you were telling the truth. There were three Bob Millers on the show, one who pitched for the Phillies and one who was my teammate on the Mets, so we were all telling the truth about being Bob Miller. It was a really funny show, and for a while it was the biggest re-run in the history of the show.

Miller by the numbers
1 Mexican League MVP award, in 1957

2 Advanced degrees from Northwestern University

3 Major League Baseball teams played for: Tigers, Red and Mets

5 Seasons in professional baseball

7 Years as Chairman and CEO of the Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association, from 1988-1994. He was named MLBPAA Man of the Year in 1990

23 Number of charities for which Miller either sits on the board of directors or is part of the executive committee