Oliver Hill

From BR Bullpen

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Oliver Clinton Hill

  • Bats Left, Throws Right
  • Height 5' 11", Weight 178 lb.

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Biographical Information[edit]

Georgia native Oliver Hill spent eleven seasons in professional baseball from 1935 to 1948. He was twenty-five years old when he signed on to play his first year in pro ball with the Joplin Miners of the class C Western Association. Oliver was behind the plate in the first part of the season for the Miners and hit for a .273 average before the Atlanta Crackers of the Southern Association acquired him in an unknown transaction. Hill finished out the 1935 season at third-base for the Crackers, hitting at a .300 clip, helping his team to the league and play-off titles.

Oliver spent the next three seasons with Atlanta, all at the hot corner, hitting .289 in 1936 in 153 games as Atlanta won the league title. He hit .325 in 137 games in 1937 and in 1938 he had a career year, winning the league batting title with a .338 batting average with 35 two-base hits in 146 games. The Crackers also won the league and play-off titles as well as the Dixie Series. As things go, he was then sold to the Boston Bees on September 10, 1938 by the Atlanta club.

Hill had spent four years in the minors before making his debut with the major league Boston Bees on April 19, 1939. He appeared in two games, had two at-bats, picked up a two-base hit (a trick he was making a habit of) and for whatever the reason, was on his way to the Milwaukee Brewers shortly after rounding second on April 22, 1939. This was the sum-total of his big league career.

Oliver finished out the 1939 year in the American Association, with the Milwaukee team, hitting .332 in 140 games. In 1940 Oliver had a split-season affair, playing 85 games with the Atlanta club, hitting at a .341 clip, and 46 games with the Indianapolis Indians of the American Association, hitting .260 for a combined .318 for the year. He spent the 1941 season with the Toronto Maple Leafs of the International League, hitting .280, and in 1942, he was with the San Diego Padres of the Pacific Coast League, hitting .283 in 146 games. He then spent the next three years (1943-1945) in the United States Military Services during World War II.

On his return to baseball after the war Oliver was a player-manager for three seasons (1946-1948) in the class D Georgia-Alabama League. Oliver spent time with twelve different teams in seven different leagues during his minor league career. He appeared in 1,448 games and hit right at the .305 mark with 248 two-base hits to his credit. He left the game after the 1948 season at 38 years of age.

After baseball, Hill returned to his native Georgia where he worked and lived until his death from Cancer on September 20, 1970, at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Atlanta, GA. He was 60 years of age.

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