Billy Hall - Somerset Patriots (p. 1) - Of Hall's Fame - Indy Baseball - MLN Sports Zone

Hall of Fame
Billy Hall may not make an impact on the majors, but he has made a major impact on the minors.

Dan Hickling
Minor League News

NASHUA, N.H. -12.31.01 - Billy Hall could tell you a thing or two about streaks: The good ones and the "other kind".

Late in the Atlantic League season, Hall helped his Somerset Patriots get tuned up for the playoffs by fashioning a 27-game hitting string, a new ALPB record.

Early in his career, Hall once swiped 66 bases in a row without getting caught. Ty Cobb never did that. Neither did Rickey Henderson, Maury Wills, Lou Brock, or anyone else who played professional baseball.

There is one big number that Hall would just as soon have rubbed off the board.

1,444. That would be the number of games that he's played as a minor leaguer, without ever having had a whiff of the big leagues.

Not A Uniform Number

Never one to give up hope, even Hall realizes that despite all the gaudy numbers, and the four minor league championships now that the Patriots have reclaimed their Atlantic League title, there is another number dogging his career. For some 36 is a lucky uniform number. For Hall it’s an age that will almost certainly keep him from spending as much as a single day as a major leaguer.

If that is the case, then so be it. Billy Hall can live with that.

"I've been playing the game for years," he said, "and there have been many guys I've played with who have made the big leagues. It's not that I haven't been there, and feel like I've been cheated.

I've had opportunities to be in big league camps. I've had guys like Roger Clemens say that I could play at the big league level. That gives you some sort of satisfaction, even if I've never had the opportunity."

Hall, a diminutive 5-9 outfielder has been a true baseball vagabond, ever since he was drafted by San Diego in the 17th round back in 1991 out of his hometown school, Wichita State.

Dusty shoes.

He was strictly a second baseman back then, and showed himself to be quite a hitter as he worked his way up through the lower minors, even as he went from club to club, from the Padres to the Red Sox to the Padres again to the Reds, then finally, in 1997, to the Rockies.

In 1992, his first full year as a pro, Hall was a smash success, leading the California League (Single-A) in hitting (.356) and steals (49).

Progress came slowly and his career stalled out after two full seasons at Triple-A. The low point came in 1998, when he was a Spring Training cut by the Rockies.

Indy Icon

Not one to mope, Hall soon went from the affiliated ball scrap heap to become an independent ball icon.

He hooked on with the now-defunct Allentown Ambassadors of the old Northeast League, hitting an impressive .323 while swiping 41 bases to cop his second steals crown.

Then after sitting out the 1999 season, Hall began a successful run in Somerset with Sparky Lyle's Patriots that has resulted in three ALPB titles and more polish to his indie ball legend.

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