With his kids moving forward with their own lives, Toby Hall was ready to get back into professional baseball.
Hall spent nine years in the major leagues, mostly with the Tampa Bay Rays — where he holds the franchise record for games played as a catcher. He also played a couple years in Chicago with the White Sox, becoming friends with closer and 2005 World Series champ Bobby Jenks.
They teamed up to coach together with Grand Junction in the Pioneer League in 2022. This summer they planned to reunite with the Frontier League’s Windy City Thunderbolts with Jenks in his second season as manager and Hall in his first as bench coach.
But then life went sideways. Jenks was diagnosed with Stage 4 stomach cancer and moved to Portugal to undergo treatment. Hall, who’s 49, was named the Thunderbolts interim manager on Feb. 20.
“This whole thing sucks,” Hall said on April 26 during a break from watching the Frontier League tryout camp at Ozinga Field in Crestwood. “I’m going to do the best I can to get it done.
“I’ve been waiting, really, to go manage down the road. My son’s with the Brewers (organization) now and my daughter’s now in college. This was going to be the year I was finally going to go get my name out there.”
Hall remains in contact with Jenks, who had been putting together the 2025 Thunderbolts roster before his health issues emerged.
“Hopefully he gets healthy and gets back out here,” Hall said. “It’ll probably be tough for this year, but I … want to get my buddy back on the field and coaching. He’s a hell of a coach.”
Even after Hall and Jenks’ baseball paths diverged, they stayed in contact. Hall saw another side of his buddy in Grand Junction, which was 62-33 during Jenks’ one season as manager, winning the league.
“Everybody thinks about the closer and the World Series champ, but he’s a hell of a manager,” Hall said. “His preparation — I would always tell him, ‘Man, I didn’t see that. That wasn’t on my bingo card that you would be this good.’
“But we jelled so much as far as being coaches together, not just buddies.”
This year, it’ll be Hall and returning hitting coach Kevin Santiago running a Thunderbolts club looking to bounce back after finishing 40-56 last summer. Three pitchers from that team have moved on to affiliated ball: Derrick Edington, now in High Class A with the Rays; Tyler LaPorte, now in High-A with the Braves; and Ruddy Gomez, whose contract was bought by the Twins last week.
Spring training is underway for the Thunderbolts, who open the season May 8 at Schaumburg. Their home opener is May 9 vs. Washington.
“Most of all, (we’re saying) prayers for Bobby,” Hall said. “And that’s what I’m going to tell our team this year: we’re doing this for him.”