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Herb Carneal’s Pal: Halsey Hall
Herb Carneal passed away earlier this month but another legend he
shared a radio microphone with in the 1960’s and 1970’s has been gone
for almost 30 years now. Halsey Hall and Herb worked together on
Minnesota Twins games, forming a broadcasting duo that some believe will
never be equaled.
Herb
was the low-key, smooth delivery play-by-play guy giving listeners a
clear and concise description of the game action. Halsey was the color
man and we should write color with a cap C. The loveable Halsey always
was ready with a story, witty comment or baseball insight.
Just
looking at Halsey, or listening to him, made you feel good. He had the
appearance of anybody’s overweight grandfather. He often had a smile on
his face, a cigar or green onion in his mouth, and greeted you with,
“Hi, kid.”
Halsey had been a sportswriter and sportscaster in Minneapolis for many
years before the Twins started playing here in 1961. Over the years he
had accumulated so many experiences and stories that I would look
forward to rain delays during Twins broadcasts when Halsey had even more
air time.
Even
the other team’s broadcasters sought Halsey during a rain delay. “If you
had 30 minutes to kill there was nobody better,” said
Dave Mona
who covered the Twins for the Minneapolis Tribune in 1968-69.
The
Halsey wit was captured in Stew Thornley’s 1991 book, “Holy
Cow! The Life and Times of Halsey Hall” (Nodin Press,
Minneapolis). Halsey was fearful of flying in airplanes and was famous
for this quip: “I’d like one chance to Chicago, please.” He adored
baseball including stories about the minor league Minneapolis Millers
and their rickety old stadium, Nicollet Park: “Every time a foul ball
hits the roof, all the toilets flush.”
Mona
likened Halsey as a story teller to “an early Garrison Keillor”
and recalled that before and after games other writers and broadcasters
would gather around him. “Halsey would hold court,” Mona said. “He’d be
eating his scallions and drinking whatever beverage they were serving in
there. Both before and after the game, as long as there was a crowd,
he’d stick around.”
“He
was as funny a man as I’ve ever been around,” Herb Carneal said several
years ago. He and many others thoroughly enjoyed telling stories about
Halsey, not just hearing them. One of Herb’s favorites, and Mona’s, was
a day the Twins were playing the White Sox in Chicago. Halsey was smoking
his cigar and flicking ashes on the press box floor. The ashes made
contact with paper on the floor and set off a small fire. Halsey’s
sport coat, hanging on a chair, also caught fire.
“Players came out of the dugout, everybody in the stands turned around
because there was a substantial amount of smoke coming out (of the press
box) and after the game the players wanted to know what happened,” Mona
said. “Jerry Zimmerman (Twins catcher), who was never really
that good with a quote, had the best line…‘Halsey Hall is quite a guy. He
can turn an ordinary sport coat into a blazer in nothing flat.’”
Halsey’s trademark expression was, “Holy Cow!” When something out of
the ordinary happened during a game he would let loose with it. Halsey
historians claim he was using the term on radio before
broadcasters Harry Caray or Phil Rizzuto made the
expression better known across America to millions of baseball fans.
What
else would you expect from an original?
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Halsey Hall often had a smile
on his face, a cigar or green onion in his mouth, and greeted you with a
friendly, "Hi, kid.”
Dave Mona
Halsey historians claim he was using
the term "Holy Cow!" on radio before broadcasters Harry Caray
or Phil Rizzuto made the expression better known across America to
millions of baseball fans.
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Ponson Hopes to Sink Devil Rays
Sidney Ponson makes his second regular
season start for the Twins tomorrow at home against Tampa Bay. He gave
up eight earned runs in five-plus innings in his start against the New
York Yankees last Monday. His 12.71 ERA follows an okay spring training
where he was 2-1 with a 4.29 ERA.
Prior
to Monday’s game, Ponson hadn’t pitched since March 31 in Florida but he
said of his performance against the Yankees: “I am not going to use it
as an excuse.” The Yankees had five runs in the first two innings but
Ponson did hold them without a run in the third, fourth and fifth
innings before giving up three more runs in the sixth.
Ponson plans to throw a lot of sinkers at the Devil Rays tomorrow.
“That’s my thing,” he said. “I have a great defense behind me. …I have
seven guys behind me who can catch the ball. I am going to use them. I
don’t like to strike people out. I am just going to throw the ball and
let them hit into the ground and get them out.”
Hopes
are Ponson will help shape a successful starting pitching staff. The
30-year-old right-handed Ponson signed with the Twins during the off
season after having arm trouble in 2006. He appeared in 14 games with
St. Louis and five with the Yankees, with ERA’s of 5.24 and 10.47.
He
said he didn’t feel pressure in trying to make the Twins roster in the
spring. “Not really. I knew the situation I found myself in with the
Minnesota Twins,” he said. “I just had to go out there and pitch and get
people out, and get my arm in shape. If I made it, I made it. If I
don’t, I don’t. And now it’s getting there. …It’s a long season. I
have about 30 more starts and we’ll see what happens.”
Ponson said the Twins’ “World Series potential” was a reason he joined
his new team. |
"I don’t like to strike people
out. I am just going to throw the ball and let them hit into the ground
and get them out.”
Sidney Ponson
Sidney Ponson
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Worth Noting
Wouldn’t it be interesting if former Gopher assistant basketball coach
Jimmy Williams ends up as an assistant to new Kentucky
coach Billy Gillespie? Williams resigned as an assistant at
Oklahoma State last week and speculation was he would join former
Kentucky coach Tubby Smith’s staff at Minnesota. A source told
Sports Headliners last weekend that Williams won’t be hired here.
There’s been no official announcement yet but the Gopher home football
games with Bowling Green, September 1, and Purdue, September 22, will be
7 p.m. kickoffs.
Don’t
write off the possibility of a comeback season by Troy Williamson
this fall. The Vikings’ 2005 No. 1 draft choice had a better rookie year
than he did last season when injury held him back, plus he’s expected to
benefit from the coaching of new wide receivers coach George Stewart.
The Wild
will host a rally on Sunday from 4 to 6:30 p.m. at Rice Park in downtown
St. Paul. There will be
live music from Martin Zellar, food and beverage, free face
painting and appearances by celebrities including team owner Bob
Naegele, Jr. and Brad Bombardir, a member of the 2003
Wild playoff team. The event will take place prior to game three of the
Wild’s Western Conference quarterfinal series against Anaheim at 7 p.m.
at Xcel Energy Center.
Here’s the TV schedule for the Wild-Anaheim playoff series: tonight,
KSTC, 9:30 p.m.; Sunday, FSN North, 7 p.m.; Tuesday, KSTC, 8 p.m. If
games five, six or seven are necessary in the best of seven series the
TV schedule will be: Thursday, FSN North, 9:30 p.m.; Saturday, April 21,
TBD; Monday, April 23, KSTC, 9 p.m. Because of FCC licensing
restrictions that limit broadcasting to the metro market, KSTC games
will not be available outstate on satellite or cable systems.
Although dinner and program tickets are sold out, program-only seats
remain for the University of Minnesota Alumni Association’s annual
celebration event featuring Tony Dungy as a speaker. Association
volunteer
president Denny Schulstad said a record attendance of over 4,000
is expected for the May 8 event at Mariucci Arena. For ticket
information call 612-624-2345, or
www.northrop.umn.edu
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Tubby Smith
John M. Williams, DDS
Cosmetic & Family Dental Care
612-521-7611 |
