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Robert Houston Hale
Baltimore Orioles
First Base
Born: November 7, 1933, Sarasota, FL
Signed: Signed by the St. Louis Browns as an amateur free agent before 1952 season
Major League Teams: Baltimore Orioles 1955-1959; Cleveland Indians 1960-1961; New York Yankees 1961
Died: September 8, 2012, Park Ridge, IL (age 78)
Most of Bob Hale's seven seasons in the majors were spent as a pinch-hitter, with 278 pinch-hitting appearances over 376 career games. Hale's best seasons came in the minor leagues, and he drove in at least 100 runs in 1953 and 1954 while playing for the Browns' and then Orioles' top farm teams. He earned a promotion to the Orioles in 1955 after hitting .355 in half of a season with the York White Roses of the Piedmont League. Hale batted .357 over the second half of the 1955 season following his July debut with Baltimore, driving in a career-high 29 runs. He'd return to Baltimore in 1956, making 41 starts at first base and pinch-hitting in 44 games. Between 1957 and 1961, Hale would make only nine starts total in the field, and in 1960 he was used exclusively as a pinch-hitter in 70 games by the Indians.
His last big league action came in 1961 with the pennant winning Yankees, and while he was on the team's World Series roster, he didn't appear in any games. He was on the bench as the Yankees defeated the Reds in five games. Hale's final game in the majors had come on October 1, 1961, the game in which Roger Maris hit his 61st home run of the season. Hale batted .273 with 171 hits, a pair of home runs and 89 RBIs. As a pinch-hitter, he was a career .247 (62 for 251) batter.
Building the Set
Summer of 1983 or 1984 in Millville, NJ - Card #28
This was one of the Original 44, and I re-told the story of how my Dad and I started collecting this set with the Early Wynn (#187) post, back in January. Seven of the Original 44 came from series one, with 11 coming from series two, and this Hale card is the tenth of 16 from series three.
This was one of the Original 44, and I re-told the story of how my Dad and I started collecting this set with the Early Wynn (#187) post, back in January. Seven of the Original 44 came from series one, with 11 coming from series two, and this Hale card is the tenth of 16 from series three.
The Card / Orioles Team Set
This is Hale's rookie card, and he'd appear in four more Topps flagship sets up until 1961. The cartoons on the back highlight his joining the Orioles and his success in the minor leagues in 1954. The final panel notes his ability to also play the outfield, but in his entire big league career he either played first base or pinch hit, with nary an outfield appearance.
1956 Season
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First Mainstream Card: 1956 Topps #231
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (5): 1956-1957, 1959-1961
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2010 Topps Heritage Real One Autographs #ROA-BHA
21 - Hale non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 11/27/22.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
The Trading Card Database
Previous Card / Next Card
Order Collected: #222 Dave Philley - Baltimore Orioles / #238 Walt Dropo - Chicago White Sox
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