Career Year: Jimmie Hall

After 7 years in the minor leagues, a 25-year-old outfielder named Jimmie Hall was pleasantly surprised to find himself accompanying the Minnesota Twins north following 1963 spring training. His expectations for significant playing time during the 1963 season had to be modest, as the Twin’s outfield line-up was set with Lenny Green in center field flanked by 2 All-Stars, Harmon Killebrew and Bob Allison.

Jimmy Hall

At the end of May, Hall was hitting only .188 in limited action. Then an injury to Green opened up center field for Hall. He batted .322 in June with 5 home runs and 16 runs batted in. He hit 7 more home runs in July, and then had a huge August: .333 batting average, 13 home runs, 27 RBIs. A healthy Green didn’t have a chance of displacing Hall the way he was hitting.

Hall closed out the season strong, hitting 6 more home runs in September. He closed out the 1963 season with a .260 batting average, 33 home runs and 80 RBIs. He finished third in the Rookie of the Year voting behind Gary Peters and Pete Ward.

Hall opened the 1964 season as the team’s starting center fielder, but he couldn’t match the hitting productivity of his rookie campaign. Hall hit 25 home runs in 1964 and 20 homers in both 1965 and 1966. He was traded to the California Angels in 1967, and played for a total of 6 major league teams before retiring after the 1970 season.