June 17, 2010 – The Society for American Baseball Research is a great organization and one of the wonderful projects they have going on is the Baseball Biography Project. One of the biographies they have completed is about former Twins announcer and Minnesota legend Halsey Hall. Halsey Hall was born on May 23, 1898 and passed away on December 30, 1977. Halsey became a member of the original Minnesota Twins baseball broadcast team for WCCO in 1961, and continued as a radio and sometimes TV announcer through the 1972 season. Hall was also an accomplished journalist whose first newspaper byline appeared in 1919. Halsey is credited with being the first baseball broadcaster to use the term “Holy Cow” but there are some that would argue that point, regardless if that is true or not, Halsey Hall was one of the region’s most loved sportscasters and a great story teller who had a love for green onions, cigars and wonderful stories. Get a cold drink or a cup of coffee and take a few minutes to learn a little about Halsey Hall by clicking here. If you want to know more about Halsey, you might want to check out Stew Thornley’s book “Holy Cow! The Life and Times of Halsey Hall”. I have the book and it was a fun read. The Twins Cities SABR chapter is named after Halsey Hall and additional info on Halsey Hall can be found there.
To listen to a very short audio clip of Halsey and his “pantywaist” slip-up courtesy of the Museum of Broadcasting Hall of Fame just click on the “Halsey Hall” link below.