A native of Havana, Illinois, Hamey's early employment included working in an office job with Standard Oil of Indiana and managing vaudeville theaters.

After Hamey's success at Binghamton, Weiss transferred him to business manager of one of New York's two highest-tier farm clubs, the Kansas City Blues of the top-level (then called Double-A) American Association.

In 1945, Larry MacPhail, former general manager of the Cincinnati Reds and Brooklyn Dodgers, returned from United States Army service in World War II and shocked baseball when he formed an ownership syndicate that purchased the Yankees from the estate of Jacob Ruppert.

[4] Hamey then returned to the Yankees,[2] where Weiss had finally been promoted to general manager in October 1947 after MacPhail's partners, Dan Topping and Del Webb, bought him out.

On April 16 of that year, he joined the Philadelphia Phillies as general manager, effectively succeeding owner Robert R. M. Carpenter Jr., who was functioning as the team's GM-without-portfolio.

He tweaked the Yankee roster again during the offseason, and promoted eventual Rookie of the Year Tom Tresh and freshman pitcher Jim Bouton to the 1962 club, which took the AL pennant by five games and outlasted the San Francisco Giants in the World Series.

He made room for Pepitone through a controversial trade, sending longtime Yankee first baseman Bill Skowron to the Los Angeles Dodgers for pitcher Stan Williams.

[7] The Yankees averaged 103 regular season victories during Hamey's three-year GM tenure and brought up a number of serviceable mid-level players.

But neither Hamey nor Houk could adequately replace the team's aging corps of superstars—Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Berra and Whitey Ford—or other standout players such as Elston Howard, Bobby Richardson and Tony Kubek.

Hamey's last high-profile job in baseball occurred during the winter of 1969–70, when AL president Joe Cronin appointed him caretaker chief executive of the Seattle Pilots as the team struggled to find new ownership.