Hal Morris

William Harold Morris III (born April 9, 1965) is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) first baseman who played for several teams from 1988 to 2000, including a ten year stint with the Cincinnati Reds.

MSU featured future big league players Will Clark, Rafael Palmeiro, Bobby Thigpen and Jeff Brantley.

His teammates at Michigan included future Major League players Barry Larkin, Chris Sabo, Jim Abbott, Scott Kamieniecki, Mike Ignasiak, and Gary Wayne.

[3] Morris played for the New York Yankees, the Cincinnati Reds, the Kansas City Royals and Detroit Tigers.

In a 13 year major league career, Morris posted a .304 batting average with 76 home runs and 513 RBI in 1,246 games played.

He collected a base hit in his first at bat, a single to left field against Toronto reliever Duane Ward.

Morris was thought so highly of in the Yankee organization that they considered trading Don Mattingly to make room for him.

Morris was traded, along with Rodney Imes to the Cincinnati Reds for pitcher Tim Leary and outfielder Van Snyder.

While the Reds failed to repeat their World Series win in 1991, Morris had another strong season, finishing one point behind Atlanta's Terry Pendleton in the battle for the National League hitting crown.

Morris was named the 1994 Reds MVP by the Cincinnati Chapter of the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

Morris was again granted free agency on October 29, 1997, signing with Kansas City in December of that year.

Before joining the Angels in November 2011, he was a professional scout for the Pittsburgh Pirates for two seasons and the Boston Red Sox for one (2011).

Morris was part of the World Champion Cincinnati Reds in 1990