This week’s Monster Card is at the suggestion of Walt Taylor. And it’s probably one whose turn is due!
The 1963 card for Richard Wallace “Dick” Hall is quite a barnburner. Hall, who played for the Baltimore Orioles in ‘63 is rated as a D(B*)YZ pitcher (though he only had three starts for the year). For our purposes, it’s Hall’s hitting card that turns heads. For starters, he has double ones. After that, he had an amazing *eight* sevens which puts his last nine at 45 (alas, no 14s for poor Dick Hall).
| Split | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | BB | SO | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1963 Totals | 48 | 30 | 28 | 7 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 8 | .464 | .464 | .607 |
For the year, Hall hit .464 in 28 at-bats. But here’s the interesting part: in 1963, 
Dick Hall hit one double to go with his one homerun in 30 plate appearances. For one reason or another, Dick Seitz didn’t see fit to give Hall any 6s to replicate his double even though the two ones might seem a bit high. The card shown is from the Original 1963 set. If anyone out there has the reprint, I’m curious if Hall’s card was “re-configured”.
For those wondering, Dick Hall broke into the majors in 1952 as an outfielder and even played some infield positions during his first few years in the bigs. It wasn’t until 1955 did Hall see time on the mound. That probably explains why he wasn’t a stranger with the bat. That said, his homerun in 1963 was his only one after 1955 and as a pitcher.
Thanks to Walt Taylor for the great suggestion!
I recall Rick Wrona got a card (94 season?) for 12 PAs (4 doubles, 1 HR, 1 walk), but his card wasn’t THAT good, and I’ve always wondered how APBA figured his card.
In my card sets, I try to mitigate the effects of great performance in few PAs.
For players with fewer than 50 PA, I add in stats pro-rated to (50-actual PA) plate appearances at the level of a pitcher’s hitting card. It seemed to work for the Wrona example.
I started playing APBA in 1964 (season) when I was in high school. We bought 1963 and 1962 shortly thereafter, and continued with 1965 and 1966.
Dick Hall was on those Oriole teams. On at least one of those cards, his nickname was not “Dick.” It was “Siete Leguas.” We pronounced it “Seat Legs.” Seemed funny to a 16 year old. Perhaps an immature 16-year-old.
I found out later that the nickname came from his Mexican League days. Siete Leguas was the name of Pancho Villa’s horse. “Seven Leagues” in English. Referring to his height: 6′ 6″.
He looked like he should also be in the NBA, like Gene Conley was.
Trivia: Dick Hall also was the winning pitcher in the first League Championship Series game ever played, a 4-3 Orioles victory over Minnesota in 1969.
DonS.
Fun Dick Hall fact. He had amazingly good control with few walks, and did not throw a wild pitch until his last season.