Here at BaseballDigest.com, one of the things that we really would like to do is give a glance at the history of this great game of baseball. The history of the Minnesota Twins starts in 1961, so there have been nearly 50 years worth of history and many great players have played for the Twins. From time to time, we will be profiling players from Twins teams past. Some will be stars. Others will be players who may not be household names but still have a story in Twins history.
Today, I will begin this series by wishing a very happy 71st birthday to Jimmie Hall, a player who had a remarkable rookie season with the Twins back in 1963. It started out with a very nondescript pinch hitting appearance on April 9, 1963. But over time, he took over the CF playing time from Lenny Green. He also got time in left field, where Harmon Killebrew was the regular that year, and RF, where Bobby Allison was the every day guy. According to the book Cool of the Evening, the 25 year old Hall made the team because Tony Oliva was such a poor defensive outfielder early in his career.
He ended the season hitting .260/.342/.521 with 21 doubles, five triples, 33 home runs and 80 RBI. That was good enough for third place in the AL Rookie of the Year voting behind two White Sox players. Gary Peters went 19-8 with a 2.33 ERA, and Pete Ward hit .295/.353/.482 with 34 doubles, six triples, 22 homers and 84 RBI.
In his second full season, there was no slump. In fact, he made his first All Star appearance, and entered the midseason classic as a replacement for Mickey Mantle. Overall in 149 games, he hit .282/.338/.480 with 20 doubles, 25 homers and 75 RBI. During the season, he was hit on the cheek by a pitch from a lefty, and never fully recovered from it, or at least that was the perception and scouting report around the league.
In 1965, Hall was again named an All-Star. He entered the game as a pinch hitter and went 0-2 in the All Star game played at Metropolitan Stadium. On the season, he hit .285/.347/.464 with 25 doubles, 20 homers and 86 RBI. That was the year that the Twins won the American League pennant and lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in seven World Series games. Although Hall played in 148 regular season games, he played in just two of the seven World Series games because lefties Sandy Koufax and Johnny Podres pitched in five of the seven games. In those other two games? 1-7 with five strikeouts against Don Drysdale.
In 1966, Hall saw his playing time reduced to 120 games. He hit just .239/.312/.449 with seven doubles, twenty homers and 47 RBI. Following the season, he was traded with Pete Cimino and Don Mincher to the California Angels for Dean Chance and a Player to be Named Later that turned into Jackie Hernandez. Over the next four seasons, he played in 390 games between the Angels, Cleveland Indians, New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs and Atlanta Braves.
The career of Jimmie Hall got off to such an incredible start. He was set to join the likes of Killebrew and Allison and eventually Oliva after those 33 rookie home runs. Although he played in the next two All-Star games, he was never able to duplicate his rookie season success. However, he was so good for his first three seasons that he should never be forgotten by Twins fans.
Hall has chosen not to participate in Twins events since he was traded by the team. According to Cool of the Evening, he is still living in his home state of North Carolina.
Topics: Bob Allison, Cool of the Evening, Harmon Killebrew, jimmie hall, Tony Oliva
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[...] First, I wrote a Twins Player Profile on Jimmie Hall for BaseballDigest.com. He made an incredible, historical debut with the Twins in 1963 and was very [...]
[...] Make sure to read the Twins Player Profile of Jimmie Hall by Seth Stohs. Stohs gives a lot of information about a former Twins All-Star that many are [...]
I saw Jimmy play. Talk about potential. He reminds me of the Cleveland Indians’ Herb Score. Granted Score was a greater pitcher than Hall was a position player at the time of their respective injuries, nonetheless Jimmy had unlimited potential. Once he got hit, he wore protective gear and bailed out that day forward. Very, very unfortunate.
Seth, I was a big fan of Jimmie Hall when he played. He has become maybe on of the forgotten Twins. But I have to correct you on something related to your article. It was not Johnny Podres who was the other Dodger left hander, it was Claude Osteen.
Jimmie Hall is my absolute fave player of all time. And I have followed the Twins since they came,at which time I was a little girl. He had one of the sweetest swings that I have ever seen, and yes he did have great potential. It broke my heart when he was hit by that pitch, and it broke my heart when they traded him. His rookie season was sensational, and 33 homeruns to break Ted williams record. Awesome. I believe that he would have been a super star and in the hall of fame, if he had not been hit by that awful pitch. Hopefully life has been very kind to him since he retired from baseball.
Jimmie Hall was a hellava player, to be sure..and was popular with the ladies..I am living proof of that..
What I never understood is that he got beaned (by Bo Belinsky) in 1964, but had probably his best season in 1965, hitting .285 with power and stolen bases. So, how did his beaning lead to his demise?