Toby Jason Hall (born October 21, 1975) is an American former

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

catcher Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...

. He played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB) from 2000 to 2008, primarily with the

Tampa Bay Devil Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since its inception, the team's home venu ...

. Listed at and , he batted and threw right-handed.

Career

Hall attended El Dorado High School in

Placerville, California Placerville (, ; formerly Old Dry Diggings, Dry Diggings, and Hangtown) is a city in and the county seat of El Dorado County, California. The population was 10,747 as of the 2020 census, up from 10,389 as of the 2010 census. It is part of the Sa ...

, where he earned All-State honors. The first time he played catcher was in his sophomore year at

American River College American River College (ARC) is a public community college in unincorporated Sacramento, California. It is part of the California Community Colleges System. History The college was opened in 1955 as American River Junior College, on the site ...

. Then while in college he was an All-American at

UNLV The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. It includes the S ...

. The

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yor ...

selected Hall in the 24th round (663rd overall) of the

1995 MLB draft First round selections The following are the first round picks in the 1995 Major League Baseball draft. ''*'' Did not sign Background Outfielder Darin Erstad of the University of Nebraska was the first pick in the 1995 Rule 4 Draft. Erstad ...

, but he did not sign.

Tampa Bay Devil Rays

Hall was selected in the ninth round (294th overall) of the

1997 MLB draft The 1997 First-Year Player Draft, Major League Baseball's annual amateur draft of high school and college baseball players, was held on June 2 and 3, 1997. A total of 1607 players were drafted over the course of 92 rounds. First round selections ...

by the

and signed with the team. He rose through their

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...

farm system In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team, feeder club, or nursery club is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher ...

, starting in

Class A Short Season Class A Short Season (officially Short-Season A) was a level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States from 1965 through 2020. In the hierarchy of minor league classifications, it was below Triple-A, Double-A, Class A-Advanced (cre ...

in 1997 and reaching Triple-A in 2000. He made his MLB debut with the Devil Rays late in the 2000 season, appearing in four games while

batting Batting may refer to: *Batting (baseball), the act of attempting to hit a ball thrown by the pitcher with a baseball bat, in order to score runs *Batting (cricket), the act of defending one's wicket with the cricket bat while attempting to score ru ...

.167 (2-for-12). In 2001 and 2002, he appeared in 49 and 85 games with Tampa Bay, batting .298 and .258, respectively. From 2003 through 2005, he played in over 100 games each season with the team, batting a career-high .287 in 2005. He appeared in 64 games with the Devil Rays in 2006, batting .231 with eight home runs and 23 RBI. Overall, Hall appeared in 586 games with Tampa Bay, batting .262 with 44

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s and 251 RBIs. Hall holds a number of top ten team records for Tampa Bay; as of 2022, he is tied with

Aubrey Huff Aubrey Lewis Huff III (born December 20, 1976) is an American former professional baseball player who played 13 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). Huff played for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Houston Astros, Baltimore Orioles, Detroit Tiger ...

for seventh in

sacrifice flies In baseball, a sacrifice fly (sometimes abbreviated to sac fly) is defined by Rule 9.08(d): "Score a sacrifice fly when, before two are out, the batter hits a ball in flight handled by an outfielder or an infielder running in the outfield in fair o ...

(26), ranks eighth in doubles (112), ninth in games played (586), and tenth in at bats (2,050), RBI (251), and hits (538).

Los Angeles Dodgers

On June 27, 2006, Hall and pitcher

Mark Hendrickson Mark Allan Hendrickson (born June 23, 1974) is an American former baseball and basketball player. Hendrickson was a pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) and played power forward in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and Continental Bas ...

were traded to the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

for pitcher

Jae Seo Jae Weong Seo (; Hanja: 徐在應; ; born May 24, 1977), usually referred to as simply Jae Seo and pronounced "Jay So", is a retired South Korean professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Mets, Lo ...

, catcher

Dioner Navarro Dioner Favian Navarro Vivas (born February 9, 1984) is a Venezuelan former professional baseball catcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers, Tampa Bay Rays, Cincinnati Reds, Chicago Cubs, Ch ...

, and outfielder

Justin Ruggiano Justin Marshall Ruggiano (born April 12, 1982) is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays / Rays, Miami Marlins, Chicago Cubs, Seattle Mariners, Los Angeles Dodg ...

. In 21 games with the Dodgers, Hall batted .368 (21-for-57) with 8 RBI.

Chicago White Sox

On December 17, 2006, Hall agreed to a two-year, $3.65 million deal with a club option for 2009 with the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

. He served as the backup to

A. J. Pierzynski Anthony John Pierzynski (; born December 30, 1976) is an American former professional baseball catcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the Minnesota Twins (1998–2003), San Francisco Giants (2004), Chicago White Sox (2005–2012) ...

. On July 4, 2007, Hall collected his first RBI of the season and his first as a member of the White Sox organization. In two seasons with Chicago, Hall appeared in a total of 79 games, batting .235 with two home runs and 10 RBIs.

Late career

On October 30, 2008, the White Sox declined a $2.25 million option on Hall, making him a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

. He signed a minor league contract with the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after ...

on January 14, 2009, and was invited to

spring training Spring training is the preseason in Major League Baseball (MLB), a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for Schedule (workplace), roster and position spo ...

. On February 22, 2009, Hall elected to undergo shoulder surgery, which enabled the Astros to void his deal. Hall did not play professionally during the 2009 season. On January 22, 2010, Hall signed a minor league contract with the Texas Rangers with an invitation to spring training. On June 24, 2010, Hall was released. Other than playing in one minor league game with Texas, Hall did not play professionally during the 2010 season. On March 10, 2011, Hall signed with the

Camden Riversharks The Camden Riversharks were an American professional baseball team based in Camden, New Jersey, from 2001 to 2015. They were a member of the Liberty Division of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, which was not at that time affiliat ...

of the

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

Atlantic League of Professional Baseball The Atlantic League of Professional Baseball (ALPB) is a professional independent baseball league based in the United States. It is an official MLB Partner League based in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States. The Atlantic League's ...

. He appeared in 93 games with Camden, batting .255 with two home runs and 32 RBI. On December 20, 2011, Hall retired from baseball as a player.

Personal life

Hall has a tendency to dye his soul patch different colors to mark specific occasions. For example, during a 12-game winning streak in 2004, he dyed his soul patch platinum blonde. On June 24, 2006, Hall dyed his soul patch red to mark "turn back the clock night", where Tampa Bay wore throwback uniforms for the

Tampa Tarpons The Tampa Tarpons are a Minor League Baseball team of the Florida State League and the Single-A affiliate of the New York Yankees. They are located in Tampa, Florida. The Tarpons play their home games at George M. Steinbrenner Field, which is ...

, a

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

minor-league affiliate. In May 2005, Hall sponsored a

Make-a-Wish The Make-A-Wish Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in the United States that helps fulfill the wishes of children with a critical illness between the ages of and 18 years old. Make-A-Wish was founded in 1980 and headquar ...

for Chase Troche.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, Toby 1975 births Living people Hudson Valley Renegades players Charleston RiverDogs players Orlando Rays players St. Petersburg Devil Rays players Durham Bulls players Arizona League Rangers players Camden Riversharks players Chicago White Sox players American River Beavers baseball players Baseball players from Tacoma, Washington Major League Baseball catchers Tampa Bay Devil Rays players Los Angeles Dodgers players UNLV Rebels baseball players Charlotte Knights players International League MVP award winners People from Placerville, California