Hall started 123 games, 57 in right field, 56 in left and 10 as a DH. He's a capable outfielder, although teams can run on his arm. He made a big effort to change the bad-boy image that hurt him in the past, leading headline writers to describe him as 'Mellow Mel.'
Born in Lyons, New York, he was the Cubs' second-round pick in 1978. Hall was acquired from Cleveland for Joel Skinner and Turner Ward prior to the 1989 season."
-Tony DeMarco and Tom Pedulla, The Complete Handbook of Baseball, 1992 Edition
"For all the trials and tribulations Yankee fans endured during the '91 season, the sight of Mel Hall, arms raised in exultation after slugging a game-winning homer on Memorial Day, will not long be forgotten.
Simply put, 'It was the biggest day of my career,' Hall says.
Unfortunately, the Yankee outfielder's emotional clout to help defeat the rival Boston Red Sox was not season-lasting. But that cannot be said for Hall's third year as a Yankee. The left-hand hitting slugger finished the season hitting .285 with 19 home runs and knocking in 80 runs. Boldly stating he would produce if he played, the part-time DH, part-time outfielder let his bat do the talking.
'I didn't want anybody to give me anything. I didn't expect anybody to give me anything. The bottom line is if you produce you're going to play,' says Hall.
His homers and RBI were both major league career highs and his RBI total led the club. Not one to cast images of outstanding defensive play, Hall filled in with quality glovework in both right and leftfield, further stating his value as an everyday player. With the addition of Danny Tartabull and a healthy Roberto Kelly, the Yankees' lineup is bulging with power.
'I think my best years are coming,' says the 31-year-old Hall. 'I think the next six, seven years will be pretty good years for me if I stay healthy, especially if I play in New York' "
-The New York Yankees Official 1992 Yearbook
"A career year in 1991. Hall hit .285 with 19 home runs and 80 RBIs.
His season started out tough, with Hall going 1-for-12 through seven games, 3-for-24 through 11 games and hitting .176 for the month of April. He started eight of the club's 17 games.
Mel's first homer came in his 29th at-bat on April 27 at Chicago off Bobby Thigpen. He started to heat up with the bat in May as he started to play regularly. He hit .297 with seven home runs and 18 RBIs while starting 20 of the club's 27 games. He raised his batting average 83 points to .259 through May.
His hottest stretch was three games from May 26-28, going 5-for-13 with four home runs and six RBIs. Three of the four homers were in the 9th inning. On May 26 at Baltimore, Mel hit a 9th inning leadoff homer off Gregg Olson, tying the score 1-1; the Yankees won in 11 innings. On May 27 against Boston, he hit two home runs including the game-winning three-run homer in the bottom of the 9th inning to give the Yankees a 6-5 win. On May 28 he hit a homer in the 9th off Tony Fossas in a 6-2 loss to Boston. It marked the fourth time in his career that Mel homered in three straight games.
Mel continued his torrid hitting in June, batting .333 with three home runs and 14 RBIs, starting 21 of the club's 27 games; he played in 24 games and reached base safely in 21. He had an eight-game hit streak (10-for-28), raising his average from .262 to .280, then concluded the month by hitting in six straight games (8-for-23), raising his average from .284 to .292. Mel was hitting .296 with 13 homers and 46 RBIs at the break.
He came out of the break and continued to torment American League pitching, hitting .357 (25-for-70) with a home run and 11 RBIs through the end of the month, bringing his season batting average to .310. His season-high batting average of .321 came on July 24 with a 4-for-4 evening against Seattle.
Mel hit .300 with four homers and 18 RBIs in August. He ended the month by hitting in a season-long nine straight games (14-for-36) raising his average from .299 to .307. Included were home runs in consecutive games against Toronto, on August 29 off David Wells and on August 30 off Todd Stottlemyre.
His production and batting average tailed off in September/October as he hit .189 with one home run and five RBIs. For the second half of the season, he hit .277 with six home runs and 34 RBIs. His 19th homer came on the last day of the season, a 4th inning shot off Charles Nagy of Cleveland.
Hall's home run and RBI totals were both career highs and his RBI total led the team. The Yankees were 14-4 when he hit a home run, and since he joined the Yankees the club is 35-11 when he homers.
He hit .273 with 14 home runs and 53 RBIs against right-handed pitching. Against left-handers he hit .309 with five homers and 27 RBIs after hitting .164 with four homers and 36 RBIs against lefties prior to 1991. At home, Mel hit .273 with 13 home runs (tied with Matt Nokes for the club lead) and a club-best 48 RBIs.
Mel hit .288 (21-for-73) with runners in scoring position and less than two out, but went only 2-for-14 with nine RBIs with the bases loaded. He hit .275 (28-for-102) when leading off an inning and had 27 two-out RBIs, tied with Kevin Maas for second best on the team. Hall had 38 multi-hit games and 10 game-winning RBIs. He hit .286 (80-for-280) when batting fourth, yet was 4-14 as a pinch hitter. He ranked 10th in the league for grounding-into-double play ratio, averaging one every 82 at-bats.
Hall started 123 games including 57 in right field, a team-leading 56 in left and 10 as the designated hitter. He ranked 17th in the American League with a .987 fielding percentage (3 errors).
He signed a three-year contract in November 1989. The contract extends through the 1992 season.
Hall hit .258 with 23 doubles, 12 home runs and 46 RBIs over 113 games in 1990.
He hit .273 with two homers and seven RBIs over 13 games in April. He had a hot start with a solo homer off Nolan Ryan at Texas on April 20. The home run was the first by the Yankees in 1990, breaking a string of seven homerless to start the season; it was the club's longest such streak to start a season since 1918. Two days later Hall hit a two-run shot off Kevin Brown.
Hall started out hot in May, getting five hits in his first 16 at-bats through May 5 and bringing his season batting average to what would be a season high .283. His average tailed off drastically over the course of the month. Overall in May, he appeared in 25 games and hit .222.
June was by far his most productive month, with Mel hitting .286 with six doubles, five home runs and 15 RBIs. On June 2 against Baltimore, he played in career game No. 900. On June 5 at Boston, he hit a three-run homer off Dennis Lamp. From June 10-14 he had an RBI in four straight games, including three games against Boston. From June 12 through the end of June (18 games), Mel hit .318.
He continued his torrid hitting into July until sidelined with an injury in the middle of the month. From June 28 into the All-Star break, Mel hit safely in a season best 10 straight games with an average of .372 (16-for-43). Over a 29-game period from June 12 through July 15, Mel hit .321 (34-for-106), raising his average from .233 to .270. In the July 15 game against Chicago, he doubled to right field and had to leave the game with a pulled right quadriceps which he injured sliding into second. He was placed on the 15-day disabled list on July 16 and activated on August 1.
September was a month marred by injuries. On September 1 at Boston, while chasing a Wade Boggs double, Hall went headfirst into the left-field wall, spraining his left wrist; he missed the next five games.
On September 15 he hit a pinch-hit homer in Detroit off Ed Nunez. He made his final start on September 17 in Toronto and jammed his right shoulder diving for an errant throw into left field. The Yankees played 15 more games and Mel appeared twice as a pinch hitter.
Mel hit .268 with nine home runs and 34 RBIs in 71 games before the break, .237 with three homers and 12 RBIs in 42 games after the break. He made 95 starts in 1990 (LF-38, RF-12, DH-45). He was 0-for-7 with an RBI with the bases loaded. He hit .268 (81-for-302) with 11 home runs and 41 RBIs against right-handed pitching and .207 (12-for-58) with a homer and five RBIs against lefties.
He stroked 23 doubles, his most in one season since he had a combined 24 in 1984 for the Cubs and Indians. His batting average was his lowest since hitting .257 in 83 games for the Cubs in '84. Hall's seven game-tying RBIs tied for the team lead with Jesse Barfield and Steve Sax and 19 of his 46 RBIs (41%) came with two out.
Hall was acquired from the Cleveland Indians on March 19, 1989 in exchange for catcher Joel Skinner and outfielder Turner Ward. He started out slowly, appearing in 15 games and hitting .258 for the month of April. He made six starts, all in right field. Mel went on the disabled list on April 26 with a pulled right hamstring; the injury occurred on April 25 in Kansas City while he was trying to score from first base on a double and was hurt rounding third base.
He was reinstated on May 26 and hit in seven straight games from May 30-June 10 (11-for-26, .423) with three home runs and eight RBIs, raising his batting average 82 points from .235 to .317. From June 4-8, Hall hit home runs in three consecutive games for the third time in his career and the first time by a Yankee since Don Mattingly hit in eight straight in 1987. From June 4-13 he had an RBI in seven straight games. On June 24 Mel hit a grand slam at Kansas City off Kevin Appier, his first since August 29, 1983 when, as a Cub, he hit one off Atlanta's Phil Niekro; it was also the second and final grand slam by a Yankee in 1989. For the month of June, Mel hit .288 with five home runs and 18 RBIs, raising his overall average from .250 to .274.
He maintained his average and power in July, hitting .278 with four home runs and 12 RBIs. At the break, he was hitting .279 with seven home runs and 25 RBIs over 46 games, averaging one RBI every 5.4 at-bats. August was his busiest month as he appeared in 28 games, hitting .270. Mel hit in a season best nine straight games from August 26-September 6 (12-for-33) . He also scored a run in seven straight games (10 total) from August 26-September 6. On September 1 and 2, he homered in consecutive games against California- the second one, off Mike Witt in the bottom of the ninth, was the game-winner in a 2-1 Yankee win.
On September 21 in New York in the first game of a twin-bill with the Brewers, he was ejected for being involved in an incident when Luis Polonia was hit by a Mark Knudsen pitch. On September 29 against Detroit, Mel hit a pair of home runs off Jack Morris, the eighth two-homer game of his career and his first since September 29, 1987. He hit in five straight (8-for-20) to end the season and raise his average 10 points to .260.
He had 21 multi-hit games in 1989 and hit .267 (23-for-86) with runners in scoring position. He hit .284 with 16 home runs and 47 RBIs against right-handed pitchers and .159 with a home run and 11 RBIs against left-handers. The Yankees were 15-1 when Mel homered. His season average was 21 points lower than his career average entering 1989, yet his strikeout to at-bat ratio (1.9:8) was a career low.
Hall was selected by the Chicago Cubs in the 2nd round of the June 1978 free agent draft. He was a Gulf Coast League All-Star at Bradenton that year, leading outfielders in putouts (97) and total chances (102) while finishing sixth in the loop with a .290 batting average. For Geneva in 1979, he was named to the New York-Penn League All-Star team and was tied for second in the league in doubles (18), fifth in RBIs (53) and 10th in batting (.315).
At Class A Quad City in 1980 Hall was the Midwest League's fourth-best hitter (.294) and was second in the league in fielding (.973) among outfielders. In 1981, he led the AA Texas League in hits (170) and total bases (286) while tying for the league lead in runs scored (98). He hit .319 with 24 homers and 95 RBIs at Midland and earned a September promotion to the Cubs, his first appearance in the big leagues.
Mel's final season of minor league action, in 1982, was also his best. He led AAA Iowa in homers (32), RBIs (125), hits (165), runs (116), doubles (34) and game-winning RBIs (17). He led the American Association in the three latter departments and was named to the All-Star squad. He hit .329 and was tabbed as the league's Rookie of the Year.
Mel had a fine rookie season with the Cubs in 1983, batting .283 with 17 home runs and 56 RBIs in 112 games, and finished third in the National League Rookie of the Year balloting. He was the NL's Player of the Month for August when he hit .333 with nine homers and 17 RBIs- the first NL rookie to win that award since Fernando Valenzuela in April 1981- and hit his first major league grand slam off Phil Niekro on August 29.
On June 13, 1984, Hall was traded with outfielder Joe Carter and pitchers Don Schulze and Darryl Banks to the Cleveland Indians for catcher Ron Hassey and pitchers Rick Sutcliffe and George Frazier. He hit his first American League home run against Minnesota on June 27, a game-winner in the 10th inning off Ron Davis. He had five RBIs that night.
He was leading the Indians with a .318 average in 1985 when he was felled in a freak car accident on May 9 in Texas. Mel was sidelined for the remainder of the season with a fractured left clavicle, a fractured right side of the pelvic bone, a slight concussion and a neck strain. He returned to Cleveland in mid-September and took batting practice and also spent a week at the Tribe's Florida League Instructional League complex.
In 1986 Mel set career highs in batting average (.296), homers (18) and RBIs (77). In a 50-game span, he batted .346 with 12 homers, 47 RBIs and 34 runs.
He tied his career best in 1987 with 18 homers and was tied for eighth among AL outfielders with a .989 fielding percentage. In a 63-game stretch from July 7-September 25, Mel hit .340 with nine homers and 44 RBIs. In a three-game set against Minnesota from September 11-13, he batted .600 (9-for-15) with four homers and six RBIs; Mel was named American Player of the Week for September 7-13. He hit his first career home run off a left-handed pitcher on September 25 off Gary Lucas of the Angels (after 170 previous career at-bats against lefties).
Mel had the most playing time of his career in 1988 and set season highs in most offensive departments, but his home run output (6) was a career low. Mel set career highs in games (150), at-bats (515), runs (69), hits (144), doubles (32), triples (4), stolen bases (7) and game-winning RBIs (5) and ranked third on the club with 71 RBIs. He struck out just 50 times and led the club with 12 intentional walks.
Named a co-captain on April 4, Hall batted .333 (21-for-63) with nine RBIs through April 24, endured a 27-for-119 slide in his next 38 games, through June 9, with no homers and nine RBIs, then hit .381 (24-for-63) from June 10-29. Included in that span was his first home run of the season on June 23, off Rick Rhoden at Yankee Stadium, his first homer since the previous October 4 (in 223 at-bats).
Mel hit .352 in 43 games from June 10-July 31 with four homers and 28 RBIs, raising his batting average from .264 to .305. This included a career-high 16 straight games from July 3-20 (23-for-66, .348) with two homers and 13 RBIs. He hit an inside-the-park home run on July 6 against Oakland, the first by an Indian since Joe Carter's on September 10, 1985 and the first in Cleveland since Andre Thornton's on August 29, 1977. Mel hit the homer off Rick Honeycutt, just his second career homer off a southpaw.
He had another hot streak in August, batting .339 (21-for-62) . He cooled off in September/October and hit his last homer on September 4 against Chicago.
For the 1988 season, Mel tied for second best on the club with a .290 average (40-for-138) and 63 RBIs with runners in scoring position and was 3-for-7 (.429) with eight RBIs with the bases loaded. He led the Tribe in driving home runners from third with less than two out, being successful 24 of 32 times. He was Cleveland's third best with 41 multi-hit games but against left-handers was 5-for-46 with a home run, five RBIs, three walks and seven strikeouts.
Mel graduated in 1978 from Port Byron (NY) High School where he was a baseball All-American. He was All-State twice in football and once in basketball. He played Little League, Babe Ruth, and American Legion ball as a youngster. Hall's father, Mel Sr., played minor league baseball, and a cousin, Oscar Bennett, was an infielder in the Oakland organization."
-1992 New York Yankees Information Guide
Led Texas League in total bases (286), 1981.
Led Texas League outfielders in total chances (324), 1981.
Led Texas League outfielders in double plays (5), 1981.
Led American Association in game-winning RBIs (17), 1982.
Led American Association outfielders in total chances (339), 1982.
-1992 New York Yankees Information Guide
No comments:
Post a Comment