Halsey Hall
2001 Charter Inductee
The first person ever to use the expression "Holy Cow!"
on a baseball broadcast was one of the region's best loved
sportscasters and storytellers, Halsey Hall. Remembered today
as a broadcaster, he was also an accomplished journalist whose
first newspaper byline appeared in 1919. In 1933 he began
broadcasting Minneapolis Millers baseball games on WCCO Minneapolis/Saint
Paul. He moved to KSTP Saint Paul/Minneapolis in 1935, and
returned to WCCO in 1944. Besides play-by-play announcing
for baseball games and University of Minnesota football games,
he hosted nightly sportscasts as well. He became a member
of the original Minnesota Twins baseball broadcast team for
WCCO in 1961, and continued until 1972, when he was presented
with a lifetime pass by the American League. He was known
for his love of green onions, cigars, and good stories. He
died in 1977,at the age of 78, but was not forgotten. In a poll taken two
years later, he was voted top Minnesota sportscaster of the
1970s.
