Not many images of Hall at the end of his career, so I used this action shot.
Hall closed out a very respectable career in 1971, finishing with a 93-75 record along with a 3.32 earned run average over 495 appearances, collecting 71 saves along the way.
He originally came up as an outfielder with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1952, but by the time 1955 came around they realized he was better suited to the pitcher’s mound.
Turned out to be a smart move, as Hall found his niche in the bullpen by the time he joined the Baltimore Orioles, for whom he’d play nine of the final eleven seasons in the big leagues.
A member of two championship teams, Hall was a valuable arm to call on for the Birds, whether it was putting in long relief work or closing out games.
In the postseason you can see just how valuable he was, posting a 2-1 record over five games, with a perfect 0.00 ERA in 8.2 innings, finishing four of those contests.
And on a personal note, he was the very first 1970-card I ever got as a kid around 10 years old back in 1979 or so. I’ll always remember gawking at the back and seeing that long career dating back to the early ‘50’s, blew my mind.
