Hal Reniff

{{short description|American baseball player (1938-2004)}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}

{{inline|date=August 2015}}

{{Infobox baseball biography

|name=Hal Reniff

|image=Hal Reniff.jpeg

|position=Pitcher

|birth_date={{Birth date|1938|7|2}}

|birth_place=Warren, Ohio, U.S.

|death_date ={{death date and age|2004|9|7|1938|7|2}}

|death_place=Ontario, California, U.S.

|bats=Right

|throws=Right

|debutleague = MLB

|debutdate=June 8

|debutyear=1961

|debutteam=New York Yankees

|finalleague = MLB

|finaldate=September 3

|finalyear=1967

|finalteam=New York Mets

|statleague = MLB

|stat1label=Win–loss record

|stat1value=21–23

|stat2label=Earned run average

|stat2value=3.27

|stat3label=Strikeouts

|stat3value=314

|stat4label=Saves

|stat4value=45

|teams=

• New York Yankees ({{mlby|1961}}–{{mlby|1967}})
• New York Mets ({{mlby|1967}})

|highlights=* World Series champion ({{wsy|1961}})}}

Harold Eugene Reniff (July 2, 1938 – September 7, 2004) was an American professional baseball player. The right-handed relief pitcher appeared in Major League Baseball for all or parts of seven seasons, from {{mlby|1961}} to {{mlby|1967}}, almost exclusively as a member of the New York Yankees. Reniff was listed as {{convert|6|ft}} tall and {{convert|215|lb}}. He was born in Warren, Ohio, and signed with the Yankees in 1956 after graduating from Chaffey High School in Ontario, California.

Reniff spent five full years in minor league baseball (winning 21 games for the Modesto Reds of the Class C California League in 1959) before he was called up to the Yankees in June {{mlby|1961}}. He also spent part of {{mlby|1962}} in the minors, before making the Bombers' bullpen corps for good in {{mlby|1963}}. That season, the best of his career, he recorded a career-high 18 saves (sixth in the American League) and posted his finest earned run average (2.62). He pitched in the 1963 and 1964 World Series for the Yankees, allowing two hits and a base on balls, but no runs in 3{{fraction|1|3}} total innings pitched. He did not get credit for a decision or a save, as the Yankees fell in both Fall Classics, to the Los Angeles Dodgers and St. Louis Cardinals respectively.

The Yankees sold Reniff's contract to the crosstown New York Mets in June 1967, and he completed his major league career on the Mets' bullpen staff, getting into 29 games. Returning to the Yankee organization in 1968, he spent five full years at Triple-A Syracuse, but did not earn a recall to the majors. He retired after the 1972 season, his 17th in pro ball, at age 34. He died in the city of Ontario, aged 66, in 2004.