#78: Bill “If I Played the Cubs 162 Games a Year, I’d Go to the” Hall
A lot of people would have you believe that Bill Hall is one of the greatest Cub killers in recent history. Well, he’s not. If you take a look at Hall’s statistics against the Cubs, they are not really any more impressive than his numbers against the rest of the league. But then you start to notice the unusual number of home runs. And the multi-hit games. And the fact that Hall is one in a stable of young Brewers who opened up a big lead on the Cubs and the rest of the NL Central in the first half of the 2007 season. Hall may run hot and cold against the Cubs, but when he’s hot he’s hot enough to come in at #78 of the T79.
As if it’s not bad enough that the Milwaukee f@#$ing Brewers are suddenly playing like it’s 1982, they’ve been stockpiling Cub killers like Hall to boot. Oh, and they have our Hall of Fame pitcher’s brother serving as their pitching coach. And his mustache is probably way more awesome than your mustache. But not quite as awesome as this guy’s.
After being drafted in the 1998 draft, Hall made his first appearance with the Brewers in 2002. Hall quickly established that he was capable of playing multiple positions adequately, of hitting for power, and of having decent enough speed for a slugger. In just his first game against the Cubs, Hall had half the Brewers’ RBIs, hitting a two-run home run in a 17-4 Cubs laugher. The homer was the first of Hall’s 12 career homers off Cub pitching, second only to his 14 home runs against the Cincinnati Reds.
Hall’s struggles against the Cubs in 2003 and 2004 lowered his career statistics against the North Siders, but Hall has come on lately with a vengeance, posting a .339/.383/.696 line in 2005 and a .264/.371/.585 in 2006, including a gaudy .375/.474/.813 at Wrigley Field, where he racked up more hits (12), home runs (4), RBIs (8), and walks (6) that year than at any other visiting ballpark.
So far in 2007, Hall has helped spur the Brewers to a 47-34 record, good enough for first place in the National League Central, on the strength of his 9 home runs and 37 RBIs.
The most obnoxious part about Hall isn’t that he’s only 27 years old. It’s not the fact that the Brewers locked him up prior to the start of the 2007 season to a four-year Cub killing contract. And it’s not the fact that his name has more L’s in it than the Brewers have this year. It’s the fact that the guy can play so damn many positions, that Brewers manager Ned Yost would have to be an idiot not to get him into the lineup. The guy is like Jose Macias, only good. As you suffered through watching Dusty Baker figure out ways to get at-bats to no-hit, no-talent scrubs, Yost has been busy lately figuring out how to get his stud “utility” guy into a lineup loaded with young talent all around the infield, while Mike Maddux twirls his mustache and laughs maniacally about his stockpile of young pitching talent. Did I mention they’re both wearing foam cheese heads when they’re doing it? Because they are. And they’re also kicking old people. Orphaned old people.
Why You Should Hate Him: April 29-April 30, 2006. In an early-season match-up between the Cubs and the Brewers at Wrigley Field, Hall played a major part of the weekend beatdown that the Brewers put on the Cubs. After dropping the first game of the series, the Brewers rallied to beat the Cubs 16-2 on Saturday and 9-0 on Sunday. Hill played a big part of the 25-2 drubbing the final two days. Hall went three for six on Saturday with a home run and an RBI, and then went three for five on Sunday with a two-run homer, a walk, and three total RBIs. When the Brewers make it rain in Chicago, they certainly make it pour.
Did You Know? Hall was one of the Brewers who recently appeared on the soap opera The Young and the Restless. I missed it. Unlike Hall, the only daytime drama I care about starts at 1:20 p.m.
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CT
bocaj
StPatrick
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BigFlax
No surprise that the Cubs yukked it up in that game against Milwaukee : the Brewers fielded Lenny Harris, Robert Machado, Matt Stairs, Jose Hernandez, Gabor Bako II, Andrew Lorraine and Ray King. Can anybody see the connection? Anybody?