Al Hall

Archibald W. Hall

• Bats Unknown, Throws Unknown

• Debut May 1, 1879
• Final Game May 13, 1880
• Born in Worcester, MA USA
• Died February 10, 1885 in Warren, PA USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Al Hall was an outfielder for the Troy Trojans of the National League in 1879, batting .258 in 67 games. He also played 3 games for the Cleveland Blues in 1880. It was known that he had died in Warren, PA only a few years later, in 1885, but nothing else was certain about him - not even where he had been interred.

Some of the details of his life have been unearthed through research by Frank Russo. Sources at the time listed Hall as being from Worcester, MA. His career ended suddenly when he broke two bones in an ankle in a violent outfield collision with Pete Hotaling. He was cut from the team, which refused to pay his hospital bill. Not content with this shoddy treatment, Cleveland's owner, John Ford Evans, refused to attend the benefit game played in his honor on May 17th, which raised $500 towards his medical expenses. Following that turn of events, Hall's drinking, which was already problematic, only became heavier as he sank into depression and disappeared from the public eye.

Working on a hunch based on previous work in the field of mental health, Russo contacted the Warren State Hospital to see whether they had a record of Hall being a patient there before his death. While the hospital lacked full records, they could confirm that he had indeed been a patient, being committed in late 1881 or early 1882, until his death in 1885. The hospital operated its own cemetery in nearby North Warren, PA, and while there was no record of Hall being buried there, the Pennsylvania State Archives confirmed that there was "a 99% chance" that this is where his remains were interred. Records in the state archives confirmed that Hall had been committed for being "delusional and an acute alcoholic". The Hospital then confirmed that all patients who died in the institution in the years during which Hall was a patient were buried in the hospital's cemetery, but that records are lacking for at least 100 who were buried in unmarked graves. Hall was almost certainly part of that number.

Further Reading

• "Al Hall", in Bill Carle, ed.: Biographical Research Committee Report, SABR, January/February 2023, pp. 1-2.