Sunday, May 9, 2010

Sunday Funday - Bill Hall on Mother's Day 2006

Bill Hall is the second most hated person on the 2010 Milwaukee Brewers' payroll behind Jeff Suppan. The Brewers are paying Bill Hall $7.15 million to play for the Boston Red Sox via the Seattle Mariners.

Oh if it were only 2006. On Mother's Day 2006 (May 14, 2006), Bill Hall hit a walk-off home run against the New York Mets. What made Hall's home run so memorable was that Hall hit it with a special pink bat with his mother in the stands.

The bat was later auctioned, only to be bought by Brewers' owner Mark Attanasio for $25,000 as a gift to Hall's mother. Little did Attanasio know that $25,000 was a small fraction of what he would be paying Hall over the next four seasons.

After Hall's breakout season in 2006, the Brewers rewarded Hall with a 4-year, $24 million contract: $3 million in 2007, $4.8 million in 2008, $6.8 million in 2009, $8.4 million in 2010, and $9.25 million or $0.5 million buyout in 2011 (source).

Hall struggled mightily after signing the aforementioned contract. Finally Mark Attanasio and Doug Melvin had enough, they traded Hall to the Seattle Mariners for minor league pitching prospect Ruben Flores.

It is a gift that the Brewers got anything for Hall. If anyone besides Jack Zduriencik (Doug Melvin's former right hand man in Milwaukee) was the general manager of the Seattle Mariners, the Brewers probably would have got nothing in return for Hall.

That said, Zduriencik thought so little of Hall's play that he traded Hall to the Boston Red Sox despite having Hall's services essentially for free.

Sorry Billy Hall that I only gave you a couple of nice paragraphs for your dramatic home run on Mother's Day with the rest of the post discussing what a collosial bust you were after that dramatic hit but with the $24 million you "earned" from the Brewers I think you will be alright.

On a much light note, Happy Mother's Day to all mothers...especially to my Mom!

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