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Marc Hill

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This article is about the baseball catcher. For the academic, see Marc Lamont Hill. For other people with a similar name, see Mark Hill (disambiguation).

Marc Hill
Catcher
Born: (1952-02-18) February 18, 1952 (age 72)
Elsberry, Missouri, U.S.
Batted: Right
Threw: Right
MLB debut
September 28, 1973, for the St. Louis Cardinals
Last MLB appearance
May 25, 1986, for the Chicago White Sox
MLB statistics
Batting average.223
Home runs34
Runs batted in198
Stats at Baseball Reference Edit this at Wikidata
Teams

Marc Kevin Hill (born February 18, 1952), nicknamed "the Booter", is an American former Major League Baseball catcher.

St. Louis Cardinals

[edit]

Hill was drafted straight out of high school by the St. Louis Cardinals in the tenth round of the 1970 Major League Baseball draft. He batted .244 with 21 home runs & 159 runs batted in over four seasons in their farm system to earn a September call up to the majors in 1973. He appeared in one game, and went 0-for-3, grounding into a double play in his first at bat.[1]

Hill split the 1974 season between the Cardinals & triple A Tulsa Oilers. His 14 home runs for Tulsa tied for team lead. Toward the end of the season, the Cardinals sold Tim McCarver's contract to the Boston Red Sox,[2] opening a job for Hill as Ted Simmons' back up for the remainder of the season. After which, he was traded to the San Francisco Giants for Ken Rudolph & Elías Sosa.[3]

San Francisco Giants

[edit]

Hill platooned with Dave Rader behind the plate for two seasons with the Giants. He hit his first major league home run off the Atlanta Braves' Carl Morton on April 12, 1975.[4] Following the 1976 season, Rader was traded to the Cardinals, leaving the starting job solely in Hill's hands. He responded with a career year in 1977, batting .250 with nine home runs & 50 RBIs, all career highs.

He held the starting job until a broken wrist cut short his 1979 season.[5] Partway through the 1980 season, his contract was sold to the Seattle Mariners.

Chicago White Sox

[edit]

Hill saw little playing time with the M's. Following just a half season in Seattle, Hill joined the Chicago White Sox as a Spring training invitee, and ended up signing as a free agent with them.[6]

Hill would spend six seasons in Chicago serving as Carlton Fisk's back up. He scored from second base on a sacrifice fly on May 15, 1983 against the New York Yankees,[7] and batted .226 with one home run & 11 RBIs for the 1983 team that won the American League West. He did not appear in the 1983 American League Championship Series.

He received the most playing time of his tenure with the ChiSox in 1984, as Fisk battled injuries all season.[8] His 20 RBIs were his most since 1978.

Career stats

[edit]
Games PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO Avg. OBP SLG OPS Fld% CS
737 2047 1809 146 404 62 3 34 198 1 185 243 .223 .295 .317 .612 .990 35%

Hill's only career stolen base came on May 2, 1978.[9] Tom Seaver lived with Hill part time after joining the White Sox in 1984.[10]

Minor league manager

[edit]

Once his playing days ended, Hill took a job managing the class A Florida State League Daytona Beach Admirals in 1987, their only year of existence.[11] In 1992, he joined the Seattle Mariners organization as manager of the Peninsula Pilots, who also folded at the end of the season. In their final season, Hill managed Peninsula to a 74-64 record & the Carolina League championship.[12] He spent the next two seasons in the Mariners organization managing the Jacksonville Suns. From there, he moved over to the Pittsburgh Pirates organization, managing the Lynchburg Hillcats for a season, and the Carolina Mudcats for two.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "St. Louis Cardinals 3, Philadelphia Phillies 0". Baseball-Reference.com. Busch Memorial Stadium. September 28, 1973.
  2. ^ "Leaving the Cardinals was twice as hard for Tim McCarver". Retro Simba. August 27, 2014.
  3. ^ Muder, Craig. "#CardCorner: 1975 Topps Elias Sosa". National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
  4. ^ "Atlanta Braves 7, San Francisco Giants 4". Baseball-Reference.com. Candlestick Park. April 12, 1975.
  5. ^ "Mets Top Giants, 3‐0, On 6‐Hitter by Swan". The New York Times. July 26, 1979.
  6. ^ "Transactions". New York Times. February 2, 1983.
  7. ^ "Chicago White Sox 7, New York Yankees 3". Baseball-Reference.com. Yankee Stadium (1923). May 15, 1983.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  8. ^ "Chicago White Sox catcher Carlton Fisk has been placed on the 15-day disabled list". United Press International. June 14, 1984.
  9. ^ "St. Louis Cardinals 9, San Francisco Giants 0". Baseball-Reference.com. Busch Stadium. May 2, 1978.
  10. ^ Liptak, Mark (September 3, 2020). "Tom Seaver: In Memoriam". Sports Illustrated.
  11. ^ "Daytona Beach Admirals". Fun While It Lasted.
  12. ^ Varela, Ashley (March 1, 2015). "A brief history of the Peninsula Pilots". SB Nation. Vox Media, LLC.
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