Jack Hamilton joined the Mets on October 14th, 1965 when his contract was purchased from the Detroit Tigers. He joined the team for the 1966 season, pitching 148.2 innings in a swingman role. Hamilton threw hard, but was notorious for having control Problems. Hamilton went 6-13 with a 3.93 ERA that season, but allowed more than 1.5 baserunners per inning. His one hitter at St. Louis on May 4th was a glorious highlight. In 1967, Jack broke camp with the Mets, but was dealt to the Angels on June 10th for Nick Willhite. Hamilton is perhaps most famous for his beaning of Tony Conigliaro in August of '67. At the time Conigliaro, 22, had just became the youngest AL player to ever reach 100 HRs. His career would never be the same. Suffering from vision issues, Tony missed three seasons and struggled through the others. He retired at age 30. Hamilton's major league career also ended at age 30, when he consistently struggled to find the strike zone. Jack passed away on February 22nd, 2018.
This ball was purchased from another collector. He had met Hamilton at a card show and had an extra ball available.
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