Toby Hall Has a Curious Way of Respecting The Game

Toby Hall wants to win, but first and foremost he wants to respect the game ... even if that means covering up for a cheater. You may recall that Hall was behind the plate for the Devil Rays that fateful afternoon in 2003 when Sammy Sosa's corked bat exploded all over Wrigley Field. (If you actually did recall that, I hope all this useless baseball trivia isn't taking the place of something important like, say, your wedding anniversary or your child's blood type). Hall recalls what went through his mind with the Chicago Sun-Times:

The handle of the bat was near Hall, and he instantly saw the illegal substance. His mind raced as he tried to digest what was going on. One of the greatest home-run hitters of his time was being exposed as a fraud.

So what did Hall do? He picked up the piece closest to him and tried getting rid of it as quickly as possible by throwing it to a batboy. He tried to protect the game.

''The bat just shattered everywhere,'' Hall recalled. ''I remember [then-Cubs catcher] Paul Bako was the first person that said the next day that I picked the bat up and threw it to the batboy, like it had SARS on it. If it was any other person, I think I would have been like, 'Look at that.' You don't know what goes through your mind at that time, but being younger and knowing, 'Wow, it's Sammy Sosa,' I was like, 'What just happened?'

''You try and get rid of it. Not so much to protect him, but the game doesn't need a black eye. ..."

Two thoughts: 1) Heh, SARS. Forgot about that. Wasn't that supposed to kill everyone by now? 2) Just how far does this "code" of protecting the game go? If Sosa had, say, stepped up to the plate with a syringe sticking out of his right buttock, would Hall have pulled it out before the umpire could see? If a fake prescription for HGH fell out of Sosa's pocket while taking some cuts in the batter's circle, would Hall have crumpled it up?

I mean, the game doesn't need a black eye, right? May as well dust all of this under the rug. I don't know about you, but I think George Mitchell might want to bring a crossword puzzle if he ever plans on sitting down to talk with Hall.