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It’s been a good bit since Stephen Bilko played the part of a three-sport star at Nanticoke High School.
So naturally, the son of the famed minor league slugger by the same name was a little nervous before his debut on a big league mound.
“I don’t even know if I can reach home plate,” Bilko said.
This was no ordinary warmup toss, though.
Bilko threw out the first pitch Friday before a game between the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Angels at Anaheim Stadium, kicking off a big weekend of festivities for his late father Steve Bilko.
Still one of the most revered home run hitters in Pacific Coast League history nearly 60 years after he played for the minor league Los Angeles Angels, Nanticoke native Steve Bilko will be inducted posthumously Sunday into the Shrine of the Eternals, a traveling baseball Hall of Fame museum in Southern California that recognizes the achievements its inductees accomplished off the field as well as on it.
“I didn’t realize the enormity of my father’s popularity out here,” said Stephen Bilko, who joined his brother Tom Bilko among the 10 Bilko family members on hand to celebrate the honor this weekend.
Both Stephen and Tom Bilko played on Nanticoke High School teams that won Wyoming Valley Conference championships in baseball, football and basketball about a decade after their dad made his legend as a minor league Babe Ruth while playing for the Angels. Steve Bilko went on to play for the Los Angeles Dodgers and California Angels during their inaugural seasons in major league baseball – among the six different big league clubs he played for.
Stephen, a standout wide receiver, later signed a free agent contract with the Cleveland Browns in 1973 (back before the NFL established a team-by-team draft) and went to training camp with the Browns before suffering an injury that ended his pro football hopes. He still lives in Nanticoke and spent 35 years as a teacher at Nanticoke High School before retiring, and still lives in .
Tom Bilko went on to become an orthopedic surgeon and spent his fellowship working under reknowned sports surgeons Drs. Robert Kurlan and Frank Jobe. Tom Bilko, who now lives and practices in the Chicago area, also spent some time in the 1980s as the team doctor for the New England Patriots and Boston Bruins, working on former NFL standouts John Hannah, Irving Fryar and Tony Eason.
“We first started playing when my father played with Detroit,” Tom Bilko said. “Next thing you know, we were playing Little League. We both played football and baseball and basketball in high school. People don’t realize, my father was all-league at Nanticoke in football as a freshman. He did track and field, would go from a baseball game to do field events in high school.”
Stephen was selected to throw out the first pitch as Steve’s oldest son, but Tom was standing close by before Friday’s first pitch.
“You never know what can happen,” Tom joked. “If, by some circumstance Steve is not able to throw, I am capable of stepping in. He’ll probably need treatment before or after the pitch.”
“That’s my doctor talking,” Stephen Bilko quipped.