Museum of Broadcasting Hall of Fame

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, but he was not forgotten. In a poll taken two years later, he was voted top Minnesota sportscaster of the 1970s.