Dave Hill

David Burnham Hill

• Bats Right, Throws Left
• Height 6' 2", Weight 170 lb.
• School Northwestern University, Loyola University of Chicago
• High School Bay View High School
• Debut August 22, 1957
• Final Game August 26, 1957
• Born November 11, 1937 in New Orleans, LA USA
• Died October 16, 2018 in Lakeland, FL USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Left-hander Dave Hill signed with the Kansas City Athletics on August 12, 1957 under the Bonus Baby rules of the day for an undisclosed amount. Dave was fresh off the campus of Northwestern University where he had helped pitch the Big Ten school to the league championship. Dave had just a brief two-game stay with the Athletics, allowing 7 runs in 2 1/3 innings. The first batter he faced in the majors was the New York Yankees' Tony Kubek, who had been his high school teammate.

Hill never returned to the big leagues as he went back to school after pitching in the minors for four years and serving a stint in the Army. He spent 1958 with the Rochester A's of the Three-I League and the Albany Senators of the Eastern League, having a combined record of 8-11 with a 5.35 ERA. In 1959 with the same Albany Senators club and the Sioux City Soos things really got tough and Dave went 1-12 with a 5.48 ERA.

The 22-year-old showed some toughness and came back in 1960 with a 9-5 effort with a 4.38 ERA while pitching 154 innings for the Lewiston Broncs of the class B Northwest League. 1961 rolled around and Dave made two appearances for the class A Portsmouth-Norfolk Tides with no decisions and a 9.00 ERA and decided to leave the game. He ended his four-year minor league stint with a 18-28 record and a 5.01 ERA.

After his stint in the service he returned to school and earned his master's degree in industrial psychology from Loyola University of Chicago and worked for 15 years as a marketing director for Illinois Bell. Hill later became a regional manager for Telephone and Data Systems (TDS). He was a long-time resident of Arden, NC and passed away in Lakeland, FL in 2018 at age 80.

Sources

Baseball Players of the 1950s

Related Sites

• BR Minors page