Baltimore Sun – Dick Hall, a former star relief pitcher for the Orioles whose unconventional yet effective delivery helped Baltimore win two World Series, died Sunday of multiple myeloma and congestive 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 said. “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 known for his jerky, near-sidearm delivery and pinpoint control. The unusual style earned him the nickname “Turkey.” Mr. Hall played nine seasons with Baltimore, during which he won 65 games, saved 60 more and had an ERA of 2.89.
Mr. Hall helped the Orioles win World Series titles in 1966 — though he did not appear in any games that Series — and 1970 and American League pennants in 1969 and 1971.
He also won the first League Championship Series game ever played, 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 played 19 seasons in the major leagues with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Kansas City Athletics, Orioles and Philadelphia Phillies, once retired 28 consecutive batters over five appearances in 1963.
In addition to his unconventional pitching mechanics, Mr. Hall was known for being a strike-thrower. In 1,259 2/3 career innings, he unintentionally walked just 166 batters with only one wild pitch, throwing strike after strike, mixing fastballs and sliders to routinely nip the outside corner of the plate.
After starting his career with the Pirates, Mr. Hall spent one season with the Athletics before being traded to Baltimore in 1961 to begin a six-year stint as an Oriole … READ MORE.
