Pete Hill

Joseph Preston "Pete" Hill (October 12, 1880 - November 26, 1951) was an American outfielder and manager in baseball's Negro Leagues from 1904 to 1925. He played for the Philadelphia Giants, Leland Giants, Chicago American Giants, Detroit Stars, Philadelphia Madison Stars, Milwaukee Bears, and Baltimore Black Sox. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006.

Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the 6', 1" , 215 pound Hill was considered the most important member of three of the most talented Negro League teams to ever play. From 1904 through 1907, he was the star left fielder for Sol White's great-hitting Philadelphia Giants. While with the Leland Giants, Rube Foster considered Hill his "field general" and it was his job to be almost a "second manager."

Also during this time, like many Negro League stars of the era, Hill spent some time in a few other leagues, mainly the Cuban Winter League. In 1910-11, he led the competitive league in batting average (.365).

Soon after the great success of the Leland Giants (they went 123-6 against top Midwest competition, mostly semi-pro), Foster decided to form the Chicago American Giants. It basically consisted of Foster's most beloved players from Leland, including Hill, who was made team captain.

In the first year of the American Giants' existence, Hill came to be known as one of its best hitters. He hit safely in 115 of 116 games that year against all levels of competition. While he did face mostly minor league level opponents, some of his opposition consisted of major league quality pitching, including Eddie Plank, Chief Bender, Nap Rucker and Mordecai Brown.

Owner of the Homestead Grays and famous black baseball player, manager and executive Cum Posey once called Hill "the most consistent hitter of his time." He also maintained that the left-handed Hill could "hit both lefthanders and righthanders equally well."

Besides being a top-class hitter, Hill was known to have great power, although not enough home run and RBI numbers were recorded to know precisely just how great.

While playing for Foster, the two had a very good friendship and in 1919, Foster asked Hill to become the player/manager of the newly-formed Detroit Stars. Hill was then 39 years old, but agreed to take on the job. By his third year, Hill was respected by his players and did excellently as a player/manager as well, hitting .388 in 1921 to lead the Stars.

After his stint with Detroit, Hill went on to play with three more Negro League clubs and spent a little more time in other leagues as well. As his playing career came to and end (he played his last game with the Baltimore Black Sox in 1925), Hill attempted to follow in longtime friend Rube Foster's footsteps and take a baseball front office job.

His final position in pro baseball was as the field manager of the 1924-25 Baltimore Black Sox.

In a poll taken in 1952 by the African-American weekly Pittsburgh Courier poll named Hill the fourth-best outfielder in Negro League history, behind Oscar Charleston, Monte Irvin and Cristobal Torriente. An all-star team compiled by Cum Posey in 1944 also listed Hill as one of the greatest Negro League outfielders.

Hill died at age 71 in Buffalo, New York.

External links

* [http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers_and_honorees/hofer_bios/Hill_Pete.htm Baseball Hall of Fame bio]
* [http://web.baseballhalloffame.org/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080519&content_id=7396&vkey=hof_news Baseball Hall of Fame: "Unknown to many, Hill was one of his era's greats"]