From the time he volunteered to be an umpire so his twin sons could play baseball when they were 7 in 1971, Bob Hall has always thought of giving back to the community to help youngsters compete and chase their individual and team goals.
“We’re out there for the kids,” he said.
After umpiring more than a thousand games over the last 55 years, Hall, 78, will work his last Little League game behind home plate Thursday at 6:30 p.m. in the championship game of the District 12 tournament at Purple Heart Park in Vail.
His illustrious career on the baseball and softball diamonds, which includes earning the assignment of being behind home plate for the 1996 Little League World Series championship game, will come to a close.
“I’ve had a lot of great experiences over the last 55 years,” Hall said. “I’ve met a lot of different people, from different countries with different cultures. It’s been a very meaningful time for me.
“It’s time to move on. I will always cherish the times I’ve had with the players, coaches, parents, other umpires and staff members.”
Hall has worked five regional tournaments and four different World Series — Majors (at Williamsport, Pa., in 1996) and three Big League events. The regional championships he worked included Majors, Juniors (European) and Big League baseball and Senior softball.
Managers, coaches and parents call him by his first name and some have mentioned his appearance resembles Abraham Lincoln with his distinguishable cheekbones and beard without a mustache.
The comparison to Honest Abe extends beyond the looks. The son of a beer-company executive has lived a clean, honorable life.
His father, John Hall, was an assistant to the president for special marketing at Golden Eagle Distributors in Tucson when he passed away from pancreatic cancer in 1976.
A San Antonio native, Bob relocated between Phoenix and Tucson three times in his young life, depending on where his dad was needed by Augie Busch III, the chairman of Anheuser Busch at the time.
“I remember (Busch) coming to town and assessing the situation and having my dad run the state of Arizona for Anheuser Busch,” Bob said. “We thought it was to boost morale, but it was an actual position for my dad. Augie Busch felt really bad when he found out about (Hall’s dad’s passing away).”
After the third time the Halls moved between Phoenix and Tucson, they remained in Tucson starting in 1961.
Hall and his wife, the former Phyllis Lee San Angelo, were part of the first senior class to graduate from Palo Verde in 1964. They got married in 1966. Their 59th wedding anniversary is Sept. 24.
They are parents to three sons, twins Robert Jr. and Ryan, and Terrence.
Terry was born with a genetic defect in which his brain was not fully developed, and he passed away at 19 years old in 1992. Taking care of Terry provided Bob a valuable lesson of patience, understanding, and resilience, which was instrumental for him in handling the challenges of being an umpire.
“He wasn’t supposed to live when he was a week old,” Hall said of Terry. “We actually brought him home. He was not supposed to live more than 24 hours after we brought him home. We brought him home so he could die at home.
“He lived 19 years, one month and two days. … He was a joy for everybody, my wife and I, and of course, our kids. They’re totally different because of him. He affected a lot of people in a positive way.”
Inspired by the memory of Terry, Hall helped officiate soccer and softball games for the Special Olympics starting in 1985. He worked two Special Olympic World Games in 1991 at Blaine, Minn., and in 1995 at Stamford, Conn., in addition to his travels as a baseball and softball umpire.
Hall plans to continue volunteering his time officiating Special Olympic soccer and softball events.
He has a background of being an American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO) referee, in which he also served as a volunteer. His officiating career also included 24 years at the high school level, umpiring baseball while also working volleyball and soccer games. He has officiated professional indoor and outdoor soccer matches as well.
“I got into officiating to help my sons be able to play youth baseball, and although they played for only two years, I kept going,” Hall said. “It just progressed along the line. I have enjoyed meeting and talking with people a great deal.”
Hall’s encounters on the field with players and coaches have included impromptu reunions in the community with some who played or coached decades ago.
He mentioned he often comes across people who ask, “Are you Bob Hall?”
“I answer, ‘What did he do?'” he said with a laugh.
“‘You had me when I played Little League, when I was a major,’ they say,” Hall said. “Sometimes they’re in their 30s. Sometimes they’re even in their 40s. My bank teller used to play for Sunnyside’s Little League team, and I’m going to guess he’s in his early to mid 30s. We talk every time when I go in.
“I run into a lot of people, and some of them remember me from when they sat in the stands. I’m honored they remembered me. That’s a special thing about all of this. Hopefully, I’ve made a good impression on some people.”
He also is reminded from time to time that he ejected a person from a game, something he said he has not done in a “long time.”
The latest such encounter with someone from the past occurred Saturday night when he was umpiring a Little League game at Purple Heart Park.
“When I eject someone from the game, from my part, it’s all over,” Hall said about not carrying a grudge. “The person on Saturday night, I didn’t eject him; I warned him.
“This was back when International (Little League) was playing back in the 1970s and 1980s. International played out of Vista del Prado (Park). I warned him. He still remembers that. I don’t remember it. I haven’t had a lot of ejections, but we’re all friends. That’s good. Most of them, I don’t remember ejecting them.”
Most memorable to Hall are all the good times, and he has been part of many, including at Kutno, Poland, site of the European Junior Region baseball tournament in 2001.
In the two years before that, in 1999 and 2000, he umpired the Big League World Series at Hi Corbett Field.
He also worked the Big League World Series in 1992 at Fort Lauderdale, Fla., right before Hurricane Andrew “decided to make a visit to Florida,” he said. The post-tournament ceremony was canceled and organizers offered Hall and his crew shelter. He made the sound judgment befitting of a good umpire and high-tailed it three hours in a rental car to Orlando to catch a flight to Tucson.
Big League, which included players 16-18, no longer exists. The oldest platform is Senior League comprised of players 13-16.
Hall worked the Senior League Softball West Regional in 1998.
Four years later, when the Olympic torch went through Tucson on the way to Salt Lake City for the Winter Games, Hall was one of the torchbearers.
“That was exciting,” Hall mentioned.
The ultimate was his experience at Williamsport for the 1996 Little League World Series.
He was part of a 12-member crew and was given the assignment to work behind home plate in the championship game between Cranston, R.I., and a team from Taiwan.
The Little League World Series is televised nationally; that year, the event celebrated its 50th anniversary and was part of the old, popular ABC-TV program “Wide World of Sports” that aired on Saturday afternoons.
“Oh, yeah, I was nervous going into that game,” Hall said. “I get some nerves before every game, but that one was broadcast to millions of people.”
Hall recalled the game was pushed back because of a college football game on ABC that preceded the telecast. The network had two men sit in one of the dugouts, directing him when to go live with the game.
“At one point, they signaled for me to go with the next pitch, and I shook my head, ‘No,'” he said. “I could see their expression of, ‘What?’ One of the guys put his hands out like he was saying, ‘Why are you saying no to us?’
“The pitcher hadn’t even thrown a first pitch, so I let him throw three because I wasn’t going to jeopardize a pitching arm just because they were running behind.”
He was also conscientious of maintaining a professional appearance in front of the worldwide audience.
“In between innings, I requested a towel from the umpire dugout because we had one there,” he said. “I went over there in between innings, and they handed me the towel.
“I wiped off my shoes because they were getting dusty. It was a little wet behind home plate, where they sprayed it a little bit, so my shoes were dusty. They said, ‘What are you doing? We thought you were going to wipe off sweat.’ I said, ‘No, I’m on TV. I’m gonna look nice.'”
Hall remains the only umpire from Tucson to work a Little League World Series game.
Sahuarita resident Jason Fackler, who was part of the umpire crew of 2016 Western Region Little League tournament in San Bernardino, Calif., became a candidate to advance to Williamsport. He worked as an instructor for Western Region Little League umpires starting in 2015. Fackler was diagnosed with ALS in 2019, and he passed away in 2022. His son, Chris Fackler, is a former District 12 Little League umpire who aspires to work MLB games. This summer, he is in the Frontier League, an independent league that is an official partner with MLB.
Leonard Gerken, a District 5 umpire from Oro Valley, and District 12’s Steve DeGraeve and his son Joshua of Vail are slated to umpire the West Regional Little League softball tournament from July 19-25 at San Bernardino. Assignment in the regional round is a prerequisite to umpiring in the Little League Softball or Baseball World Series.
The elder DeGraeve first met Hall in 2014 when DeGraeve was managing a Junior baseball team. He acknowledged that he did not agree with one of Hall’s calls but mentioned in jest that is normal behavior for a manager toward an umpire.
“As I started umpiring, between Jason Fackler and Bob, I learned most from Jason, but I learned simple details that I didn’t think about as an umpire from Bob,” DeGraeve stated. “Even just as simple as how to hold the indicator in my hand and still pull the mask off my face as a plate umpire when the ball is hit.
“I’ve probably worked only 50 games in 11 years with Bob, but they are almost always high-level tournament games, and I continued to learn little rule details that I didn’t know.”
A series of health issues over the last 15 years has prevented Hall from traveling nationally and internationally to umpire games.
An electrician by trade, Hall helped with electrical work at fire stations, among other workplaces. In 2010, Hall tore his left trapezius and rotator cuff trying to cut a hole for wiring in a cabinet at a fire station in Rio Rico. A Greenlee Knockout ratchet malfunctioned and locked on him, causing the injury.
He had surgery on his left arm and shoulder area but still feels pain in that area, forcing him to retire in 2012. He wears a protective sling guard to help him in case he gets hit by a ball or baserunner.
“I can’t throw the ball now because I’m left-handed,” Hall said. “The other day, I told the catcher, ‘Here’s the ball, you can throw it to the pitcher. I can’t throw it from here to the grass.’ He looked at me and I told him, ‘I’m telling the truth.'”
With Hall getting older, managing the 100-degree temperatures during games has increasingly become cumbersome. Last summer, he left the ballpark because of heat exhaustion and was hospitalized for three days.
He had the opportunity to umpire in the Western Regional baseball tournament in 2019, but removed his name after suffering a series of five heart attacks in the same afternoon previously that year.
“My wife was going to take me to the emergency room, but I told her, ‘No, call the paramedics,'” he said. “They gave me nitroglycerin, one at the house and one going to the hospital at St Joseph’s. I had the first heart attack at the hospital. It was a situation where I already had two stents for the attack, and both stents failed. The one that was causing it, causing all the heart attacks, completely failed, and another one was close. So it was because two stents failed that I had the heart attacks.
“You get through stuff, and you gotta keep going. No matter how bad I am or somebody is, there are always a lot of people worse off than you are. That’s how I look at.”
DeGraeve believes such a statement shows Hall’s true character.
“I would honestly say that the world could sure use a lot more Bob Halls out there,” DeGraeve mentioned. “People who care selflessly for the youth without any thought of personal gain or benefit. That’s who Bob Hall is.”
Hall’s sons Robert Jr. and Ryan followed their dad’s footsteps and became involved with electrical and construction work, employed by HVAC company TD Industries. Ryan is retired after also suffering an injury on the job, and Robert Jr. is the field supervisor for TD Industries. Hall has a grandson with Robert Jr. and a granddaughter and grandson with Ryan.
Hall mentioned that although he no longer is employed as an electrician, he offers assistance to friends and associates who need help in that field.
“With my background as an electrician and being in construction, if someone needs something electrical done, or plumbing, or whatever, I help,” he said. “I’m going to continue doing that to keep myself busy. I’ll be helping people. What I normally do, I don’t charge them. If materials are needed, then I let them pay for the materials, or I buy them and don’t mark up the price for them to pay.”
Hall’s wife Phyllis has remained supportive of Hall through all the experiences, and he feels indebted to her. He stands by her side when she sings in the choir during Sunday morning mass at St. Joseph’s.
He has shown his appreciation by having flowers delivered to her, including in the stands when he is working. She went with him to Williamsport and he had carnations delivered to her in the stands in the first game he worked there in 1996. She made him promise not to deliver flowers to her when he was the home plate umpire in the final game, but he managed to get her roses by the end of the day.
His wife, who walks with the aid of a cane, will make her way to the field at Purple Heart Park on Thursday night to watch her high school sweetheart work his last game behind the plate.
“I thought about this being the end the other night because I was behind the plate at the same field I will be working my last game,” Hall said. “It’s actually sad to me. I got into a sad feeling.
“I hope I don’t blow a call that affects the game. I am always that way. Now, it’s a little more pressure. I hope I do my part so the kids have a good experience. That’s the most important thing.”
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon. He became an educator in 2016 and is presently a special education teacher at Sunnyside High School in the Sunnyside Unified School District.
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