Robert Houston Hale (November 7, 1933 – September 8, 2012) was an American professional baseball player and a former Major League Baseball first baseman.
Born in Sarasota, Florida, Hale attended Lake View High School in Chicago, Illinois, and was signed as an amateur free agent by the St. Louis Browns before the 1952 season. In the minor leagues, Hale showed promise in 1953 when he batted .332 with 30 doubles and had 100 RBI at Aberdeen of the Northern League. The following season, 1954, Hale starred as a member of the York White Roses, leading the Piedmont League in doubles with 35. He also managed to hit 10 triples, 12 home runs, and drove in 101 runs in 142 games. Bob continued his offensive tear in the league with York in 1955, hitting .355 with 12 triples and 65 RBI in just 61 games before being called up to the majors by the Baltimore Orioles.
Bob made his Major League debut with the Orioles on July 4, 1955 and would go on to have a very successful first year, batting .357 in 67 games. He would play his final game with the New York Yankees on October 1, 1961.
Famous quotes containing the words bob and/or hale:
“It was because of me. Rumors reached Inman that I had made a deal with Bob Dole whereby Dole would fill a paper sack full of doggie poo, set it on fire, put it on Inman’s porch, ring the doorbell, and then we would hide in the bushes and giggle when Inman came to stamp out the fire. I am not proud of this. But this is what we do in journalism.”
—Roger Simon, U.S. syndicated columnist. Quoted in Newsweek, p. 15 (January 31, 1990)
“The best work of artists in any age is the work of innocence liberated by technical knowledge. The laboratory experiments that led to the theory of pure color equipped the impressionists to paint nature as if it had only just been created.”
—Nancy Hale (b. 1908)