Peninsula Daily News news services
SEQUIM — Hal Keller, a former Seattle Mariners general manager and longtime Texas Rangers executive who helped bring the radar gun to the major leagues, died in his sleep at his home in Sequim early Tuesday,
He was 84.
Keller, who served as the Mariners’ general manager in 1984 and 1985, had been suffering from esophageal cancer.
He also endured a lengthy battle with diabetes that resulted in the amputation of a foot.
Memorial services in his native Maryland and in Sequim will be scheduled in the next few weeks, Mariner officials said.
“I learned so much from Hal,” said Mariners president Chuck Armstrong, who joined the organization in 1983. “For me, he was the essence of a true baseball man. He loved and respected the game.”
Keller retired from baseball in 1999 and settled with his wife Carol in Sequim, where he was known as a world-class bridge player.
Keller spent most of his baseball career in scouting and the front office and was the first farm director of the expansion Washington Senators.
After the Senators moved to Texas and became the Rangers, Keller introduced the radar gun, which measures the speed of pitches.
The Rangers said Keller did so on the recommendation of former major league outfielder and Michigan State coach Danny Litwhiler.
Keller was the younger brother of the late Yankees standout Charlie “King Kong” Keller, a five-time All-Star who played in same outfield with Joe DiMaggio.
Senators and Rangers
Keller served as director of player development for the expansion Washington Senators from 1961-62 and 1965-71 before holding the same position with the Texas Rangers from 1972-78.
Among the players who came through the Senators-Rangers organization in his tenure were Jeff Burroughs, Mike Hargrove, Toby Harrah, Bill Madlock, Roy Smalley, and Jim Sundberg.
“Hal Keller signed me to my first contract in 1966 when I was 18 years old,” commented current Rangers television analyst and club Hal of Famer Tom Grieve.
“He was one of the most respected talent evaluators in the game but more importantly was one of the most well-liked individuals in baseball.
“Along with many others, I will miss a great friend, and my thoughts are with his wife Carol and his entire family.”
Born July 7, 1927, in Middletown, Md., Keller graduated from the University of Maryland and spent seven seasons in the Washington Senators organization as a catcher, including 25 games over three years with the major league club.
Keller began his post-playing career as a minor league manager for the Senators in 1958 before serving as the organization’s assistant farm director the next two years.
Coaxed away from the Rangers by Mariners president Dan O’Brien, his former boss in Texas, Keller joined Seattle as player development director in 1979, serving in that job before becoming the club’s general manager.
Keller retired from the Mariners in 1985 and later scouted for the California Angels, Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Indians.
He received the George Genovese Lifetime Achievement Award in Scouting from the Professional Baseball Scouts Foundation in 2010.
