Dick Hall, a former star reduction pitcher for the Orioles whose unconventional but efficient supply helped Baltimore win two World Series, died Sunday of a number of myeloma and congestive coronary heart failure in hospice care. The Timonium resident was 92.
“He had a strong sense of right and wrong, and he totally passed that to us and all of his grandchildren,” his daughter Helen Terry of Timonium mentioned. “He was a very, very good man. There was nothing he loved more than sit there and watch the chaos unfold with all his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.”
Mr. Hall, a 6-foot-6 right-hander, was recognized for his jerky, near-sidearm supply and pinpoint management. The uncommon fashion earned him the nickname “Turkey.” Mr. Hall performed 9 seasons with Baltimore, throughout which he received 65 video games, saved 60 extra and had an ERA of two.89.
Mr. Hall helped the Orioles win World Series titles in 1966 — although he didn’t seem in any video games that Series — and 1970 and American League pennants in 1969 and 1971. He additionally received the primary League Championship Series recreation ever performed, a 4-3 Orioles victory over the Minnesota Twins in 1969. He was inducted into the Orioles Hall of Fame in 1989.
Mr. Hall, who performed 19 seasons within the main leagues with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Kansas City Athletics, Orioles and Philadelphia Phillies, as soon as retired 28 consecutive batters over 5 appearances in 1963. In addition to his unconventional pitching mechanics, Mr. Hall was recognized for being a strike-thrower. In 1,259 2/3 profession innings, he unintentionally walked simply 166 batters with just one wild pitch, throwing strike after strike, mixing fastballs and sliders to routinely nip the skin nook of the plate.
“We always said he could hit a little thimble on the outside corner because he had great control,” mentioned Jim Palmer, a teammate of Mr. Hall’s for 5 years in Baltimore and now a broadcaster for the team-owned Mid-Atlantic Sports Network.
After beginning his profession with the Pirates, Mr. Hall spent one season with the Athletics earlier than being traded to Baltimore in 1961 to start a six-year stint as an Oriole. He was a part of a bullpen that included Stu Miller, Eddie Watt, Pete Richert and Moe Drabowsky. After two years in Philadelphia, he returned to Baltimore in 1969 and remained a member of the bullpen till 1971.
Mr. Hall, son of the late David and Helen Hall, was born in St. Louis, however he spent most of his childhood in Haworth, New Jersey. His father was an engineer, first engaged on bridges and earlier than turning into an aerospace engineer. His mom graduated with honors from the University of Vermont and spent one 12 months as a trainer earlier than being a homemaker.
Mr. Hall attended Mount Hermon School, a boarding college in Gill, Massachusetts, for highschool and later obtained an economics diploma from Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. As among the finest athletes in Swarthmore historical past, he was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame in 2012 after taking part in 5 sports activities — soccer, observe and area, baseball, soccer and basketball — and setting a number of college data.
“He was very gentle and calm and sweet, but whenever we played sports, it was like a transformation,” his son, David Hall of Matthews, North Carolina, mentioned. “It was just a transformation to see him play sports or compete in something compared to the way he was a dad and a family man.”
At 21, he made his main league debut in 1952 as an outfielder with the Pirates. After spending most of 1952 and 1953 within the minors, he spent all of 1954 within the majors, hitting .239 with a .614 OPS. That winter, taking part in within the Mexican Pacific Coast League, Mr. Hall started pitching for the primary time since his school days. He had success on the mound with the Pirates in 1955 and was a pitcher for the rest of his profession.
His prowess as a pitcher wasn’t the one factor he present in Mazatlán, Mexico. During his first winter there, he met Maria Elena Nieto, his future spouse. Mrs. Hall, who goes by Elena, and Mr. Hall married on New Year’s Eve in 1955.
After a couple of years with the Pirates, Mr. Hall struggled as a beginning pitcher in Kansas City, however he shortly discovered his kind with the Orioles. As principally a reliever, he was one of many membership’s Most worthy pitchers within the first half of the Nineteen Sixties because the membership emerged out of obscurity after shifting to Baltimore in 1954 to grow to be among the finest groups within the American League. From 1961 to 1964, Mr. Hall was 27-17 with a 2.60 ERA and 31 saves with a 0.99 WHIP in 440 innings.
“Because he was 6-6 and he had a distinct release point, he had a lot of deception,” Mr. Palmer mentioned. “It would be so interesting for him to pitch in this era to see what the metrics and the analytics and the shape of his pitches were compared to the norm. They must’ve been exceptional.”
In 1965, a 19-year-old Mr. Palmer joined the Orioles, and the 34-year-old Mr. Hall was there to indicate him the way in which.
“He was kind of a mentor to me,” Mr. Palmer mentioned. “I got to sit with him and learn baseball. He drove me to the ballpark, taught me about baseball and life. You never forget those type of people.”
After the Orioles beat the Los Angeles Dodgers within the 1966 World Series, Mr. Palmer purchased his first home “about 10 doors down” from Mr. Hall in Timonium. Mr. Hall was the godfather of Jamie Palmer, the eldest daughter of the Hall of Fame pitcher.
“We bonded because of the relationship between our families. They helped raise my children,” Mr. Palmer mentioned. “When you’re 21 years old and you’re learning about life and parenting, to have people like Elena and Dick to help you do that — when someone helps you raise your children, that’s why he was such an instrumental part of my life.”
It wasn’t simply Palmer’s youngsters who Mr. Hall cared for, although. Every winter, Mrs. Terry mentioned, he would construct an ice rink in his yard for the children within the neighborhood to play ice hockey video games on.
“That was the type of man he was,” she mentioned.
After his quick stint in Philadelphia, Mr. Hall made the Orioles in 1969 at 38 years previous. After not pitching within the 1966 Fall Classic, he pitched in all three World Series between 1969 and 1971. He was the shedding pitcher in Game 4 of the 1969 World Series towards the Mets. But he was instrumental in Baltimore’s championship the next 12 months. He pitched 4 2/3 shutout innings and was the profitable pitcher in Game 1 of the ALCS towards the Twins.
Mt. corridor then pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings and earned the save in Game 2 of the World Series versus the Cincinnati Reds, a collection the Orioles received in 5 video games for his or her second championship in 5 years. He additionally tossed a scoreless inning and earned a save in Baltimore’s Game 2 win over the Pirates within the 1971 Fall Classic, which the Orioles misplaced in seven video games. He was over 40 years previous when he recorded each saves and remains to be the oldest pitcher in MLB historical past to report a save in a World Series recreation, in keeping with Baseball-Reference’s Stathead database.
When he retired as an Oriole, Mr. Hall was the oldest participant within the American League at 41. Mr. Hall continued working as an accountant, a profession he began in 1958 and maintained throughout his offseasons as a ballplayer, till his retirement in 2001.
In addition to Mrs. Hall, David Hall and Terry, Mr. Hall is survived by sister Barbara Partee, daughters Norma Griffiths of Timonium and Martha Dunbar of Cockeysville, 9 grandchildren and 9 great-grandchildren.
Services are being deliberate by the household.
Baltimore Sun reporter Mike Klingaman contributed to this text.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com