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

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

coach and former

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the catc ...

who is currently the interim

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

and bench coach for the

Windy City ThunderBolts The Windy City ThunderBolts are a professional baseball team based in Crestwood, Illinois. The ThunderBolts compete in the Frontier League (FL) as a member of the Midwest Division. The team is owned by Franchise Sports LLC, playing its home games ...

of the

Frontier League The Frontier League (FL; French: ''Ligue Frontière'', LF) is a professional baseball league in North America composed of 18 teams – 15 in the United States and 3 in Canada. The FL is one of the eight independent baseball leagues in North Ame ...

. He played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB) from 2000 to 2008, primarily with the

Tampa Bay Devil Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in the Tampa Bay area. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. They are one of two major league clubs based i ...

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

Career

Hall attended El Dorado High School in

Placerville, California Placerville (, ; ''placer'', Spanish for "sand deposit", representing the placer mining that was predominant in the town's development, and ''ville'', French for "town") is a city in and the county seat of El Dorado County, California, United S ...

, where he earned All-State honors. The first time he played catcher was in his sophomore year at American River College. Then while in college he was an

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

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

. The

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

selected Hall in the 24th round (663rd overall) of the 1995 MLB draft, but he did not sign.

Tampa Bay Devil Rays

Hall was selected in the ninth round (294th overall) of the 1997 MLB draft 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 Nort ...

farm system In sports, a farm team (also referred to as farm system, developmental system, feeder team, 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 pl ...

, 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 (crea ...

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 .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 Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

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 Tigers, ...

for seventh in sacrifice flies (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 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 (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

for pitcher Jae Seo, catcher Dioner Navarro, and outfielder Justin Ruggiano. 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) American League Central, Central Division. The club plays its ...

. He served as the backup to A. J. Pierzynski. 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 or manager 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 a contract at present ...

. He signed a minor league contract with the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. They are one of two major leag ...

on January 14, 2009, and was invited to

spring training Spring training, also called spring camp, is the preseason of the Summer Professional Baseball Leagues, such as Major League Baseball (MLB), and it is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spri ...

. 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 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 Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

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

. 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 ...

, a

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

minor-league affiliate. In May 2005, Hall sponsored a Make-a-Wish 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 Baseball players from El Dorado County, California