Pete Hill - Early Career

Early Career

Hill was born in Virginia and was living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at the time of the 1900 Census. The 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m), 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 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, which chiefly consisted of Foster's best 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 faced 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 Cumberland Posey once called Hill "the most consistent hitter of his time." He also maintained that the left-handed Hill could "hit both left-handers and right-handers equally well".

Besides being a top-class hitter, Hill was known to have great power, although not enough home run and RBI numbers were preserved for precise statistics, as was the case with other Negro League players.

While playing for Foster, the two had a close friendship and in 1919, Foster asked Hill to become the player/manager of the newly formed Detroit Stars. Hill was then 36 years old, but agreed to take on the job. By his third year, Hill was respected by his players and continued to hit, with an average of .388 in 1921 to lead the Stars.

After his stint with Detroit, Hill went on to play with three more Negro League clubs, also spending time in other leagues. As his playing career came to an end (he played his last game with the Baltimore Black Sox in 1925), Hill attempted to follow in 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 Cristóbal Torriente. An all-star team compiled by Cumberland Posey in 1944 also listed Hill as one of the greatest Negro League outfielders.

Hill died at age 69 in Buffalo, and was buried in the Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois.

Hill's original Hall of Fame plaque showed his name as "Joseph Preston Hill." Subsequent research using census, draft registration, and passenger list data indicated that his first name was "John," not "Joseph." In late July 2010, the Hall of Fame announced that it would commission a corrected plaque, which was unveiled at a ceremony on October 12, 2010 attended by Hill's relatives and researchers.