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Crimes of Mel Hall

Mel Hall was a baseball player in the 1980s and 90s who played 13 seasons in the Majors with four teams. With his wealth, fame, and good looks, Hall could have gotten any woman he wanted.

But he didn’t like women, he liked girls.

On June 11th, 1989, a father drove his daughter Jenny, her friend Amber, and several others from Connecticut to a Yankee game for Jenny’s birthday.

The girls were sitting in right field, and throughout the game, they interacted with Hall., He toyed with them several times and pretended to toss them a ball.

After the game, Jenny’s dad told the girls they should write Hall and try to get an autographed baseball. A few weeks later, they did.

After seeing the letter, the 28-year-old called 15-year-old Amber and invited her and her family to a game.

Within days, he was spending all his free time at the family’s home.

He bought Amber and her father new convertibles and built an inground pool for the family. They got distracted by the limos, Yankee tickets, and gifts and didn’t object to the relationship.

The teen would go to the ballpark for games and sit with other players’ wives and girlfriends. She even took Hall to her high school prom. The tabloid show Current Affair did a story about the relationship, but no one in Major League Baseball seemed to care.

As the relationship continued for three years, Hall started to control who Amber could be friends with and where she could go. She knew her family was benefiting financially from the relationship, so she stayed with him.

After catching him with another woman in the fall of 1992, she broke it off.

Post Retirement

Hall retired from baseball in 1996, and two years later, he was presenting himself as a coach. He met the Miller family and soon started working with their daughter Courtney on her basketball skills.

At some point, the Millers let Hall move in. He started to take advantage of her at home, on AAU trips, and later, an apartment he shared with his girlfriend.

After she stopped giving in to his demands, he moved on to 14-year-old Katie, one of Courtney’s teammates. He violated her on two different occasions.

Investigation

In May 2007, Courtney and Katie connected on social media and decided to go to the cops.

Police started investigating and learned of many other victims, although some preferred not to come forward.

Hall was arrested on June 21st, 2007. At his June 2009 trial, he was convicted of violating Courtney at the apartment he shared with his girlfriend.

The next day, he pleaded guilty to two more charges in another county, one related to acts against Courtney at her home and the other for acts against Katie.

He was later sentenced to 22 to 45 years in prison. He will be eligible for parole on November 15th, 2031.