He was a tall, gangly relief pitcher with a lofty IQ and a low ERA. The Orioles' Dick Hall could compute batting averages in his head. Most of those who faced him watched their numbers fall.
Other pitchers threw harder than Hall, but few threw smarter than the 6-foot-6 right-hander, a graduate of Swarthmore College and a cog in the Orioles' bullpen during the club's finest years.
In nine seasons with Baltimore, Hall won 65 games, saved 58 more and had an ERA of 2.89. He helped the Orioles win a couple of World Series (1966 and 1970) and two more American League pennants (1969 and 1971).
He had pinpoint control despite a herky-jerky motion that one reporter said made him look like "a drunken giraffe on roller skates."
Fans chuckled at his awkward, near-sidearm delivery, and so did the pitcher.
"People said I threw like a girl," said Hall, now 78 and living in Timonium. "Hey, as long as it worked, they could say anything they wanted."
It was an effective, if unconventional, style.
"I'd release the ball real close to my body, and then I'd fall to one side," Hall said. "Because I was all arms and legs, hitters said they had trouble picking the ball up because the pitch seemed to be coming out of my uniform."
He once retired 28 consecutive batters over five appearances. Strike after strike he would throw, mixing fastballs and sliders and routinely nipping the outside corner of the plate. Walks? Nah. Hall surrendered less than one unintentional base on balls per nine innings.
So accurate was he that in 16 seasons, Hall was charged with just one wild pitch. He also won the first League Championship Series game, a 4-3 Orioles victory over the Minnesota Twins in 1969.
"I'm proud of that," he said. "At my age, you remember the highlights you didn't have time to enjoy before."
In two stints with the Orioles (1961-1966 and 1969-1971), he was part of a stellar bullpen that included Stu Miller, Eddie Watt, Pete Richert and the fun-loving Moe Drabowsky.
Drabowsky's pranks kept them loose, but Hall got his licks in, too.
"Whenever a new guy came [to the bullpen], I'd eat a moth," he said. "Once, Eddie dared me to bite a 17-year locust in half. So I did it - just for the effect."
When he retired at 41 as an Oriole, Hall was the oldest player in the AL.
Married 53 years, with four children and nine grandchildren, Hall works part time as an accountant, the career he began in 1958. He is mostly recovered from a stroke he suffered eight years ago.
"I've had one knee replaced, and my [right] shoulder is shot - I can't throw a ball 50 feet," he said. "But I can walk and play golf, and that's good enough."
Twice a week, he drives to Longview Golf Course in Timonium to play with a group that includes former Orioles Billy Hunter and Ron Hansen.
"Hey, Turkey!" they'll yell when Hall enters. That has been his nickname since 1951, when he was a rookie with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
"I was in the team's cafeteria, shoveling food in my mouth when [Pirates catcher] Joe Garagiola saw me and shouted, 'Look at that turkey gobbler eat!'
"Well, I've got a long neck anyway, so the 'Turkey' nickname stuck."
