Monday, September 23, 2019

NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION- 1975 JOHN HALE

Always wanted to do a “not so missing” 1975 card for former Los Angeles Dodgers John Hale.
Why? Well when you break into the Major Leagues going 4-for-4 over four games with two runs scored, it deserves a little extra attention, so here goes:


Hale came up as a September call-up during the Dodgers run to the National League title before falling to the three-peat Oakland A’s in the World Series.
Over his four game debut, he collect the aforementioned four hits over four at-bats, along with two runs scored and two runs batted in. Not bad at all.
Of course, we all know that is not the way it was going to keep moving along, as Hale would be back in the Big Leagues for 1975, and ended up hitting .211 over 71 games, with 43 hits in 204 at-bats.
He’d go on to play parts of four more seasons: two more with the Dodgers and the final two with the Seattle Mariners, never hitting higher than .241, with two seasons below the “Mendoza Line”.
By the time he left the game as an active player in 1979, he ended up with a career .201 average, with 137 hits in 681 at-bats over 359 games, with 14 homers and 72 RBIs.