Rich Hill, 40, has had a 16-year career in Major League Baseball, having pitched for nine different teams, including the Red Sox -- twice. A native of Milton, Hill shares his remembrances about growing up in greater Boston in the 1980s and 1990s.
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Boston Sports Journal: Let's start with your memories about playing sports as a kid. Did you play multiple sports growing up?
Rich Hill: I did. Everything was up to 11 was soccer, basketball and baseball. And then I would say after that, my teen years, it became basketball and baseball. Then at 14, I picked up golf. I always wanted to play football. My dad had played and he knew how violent a sport it was. Still, it was more geared to baseball (for me). My brothers played and my sister played basketball and my other brother was a gymnast. I really grew up with the Park League, being the batboy for my brothers' team, and getting that full experience. That was my introduction to the next level. Those guys were in D-1 programs. My dad would take me to my brothers' game and we would all sit down and watch. That was kind of my introduction to the game.
BSJ: What do you remember about playing as a young boy?
RH: There was a guy in the area, Walter Sgroi, and he was from Watertown. He would come to Cunningham Park (in Milton). We would use trashcan lids as bases. He'd bring extra gloves and bats and kids would go and learn how to play the game in the summer. Or we'd get together and go and play in one of the Little League fields and play Home Run Derby. Or we'd play pickup games. We'd do that with basketball, baseball, touch football, which turn into tackle and some fights. We were in the era of Sega Genesis, but were outside all the time. Street hockey was huge, too, in the fall right into the winter.
BSJ: You were, at the time, only the fourth kid to have played on the varsity baseball team at Milton High as a freshman. What was that experience like?
RH: I remember getting called up to the varsity. I got a couple innings in and some at-bats. I just remember being around the seniors and feeling that it was different. The level of urgency was there. Performing mattered. It wasn't just to have fun. I remember being on the (high school) basketball team. I wasn't as big and I was getting my butt kicked. One of my basketball teammates and I were going one weekend to a Northeastern baseball camp. We had a Sunday morning (basketball) practice and we told our coach that we wouldn't be at practice because we were invited to this Northeastern showcase. He was like, 'Alright, turn in your uniforms tomorrow; you're off the team.' We were like, 'Absolutely not. We've been invited to a Division 1 camp.' That's how much things have changed over the years. That was my junior year and I was just starting to focus on baseball.
BSJ: The era of playing multiple sports seems to have come to an end. Is that a bad thing?
RH: I think so. I could go on all day about that. I think today, (youth sports) have become too serious. They treat it like it's the pros.
BSJ: When did you start dreaming about a pro baseball career?
RH: I remember specifically, in second grade, we had to write down what we wanted to be when we grew up. I wrote: professional baseball player. I always wanted to play in the big leagues. Then, afterward, it seemed a little more real. When I was 17, scouts were coming around, I'm getting letters in the mail, I'm getting invited to these camps and showcases. ... The big one was the Area Code Games, getting picked for that. That was like the next level. You went from local schools (being interested) to LSU, Texas, USC. Now you're on the national stage.
BSJ: What are your earlier memories of being a Boston fan?
RH: What I remember is those Atlanta Braves teams, being on TBS and I remember the Morgan Magic (Red Sox) teams. I remember first getting called up with Boston in 2010 and you get that nostalgic feeling from when you were a kid, growing up and going to games at Fenway -- seeing this perfect patch of grass, guys are in their uniforms, BP is going on. I remember sitting out in left field and teams were still taking infield-outfield. That was probably the last time they did it, in the late 1980s, early 1990s. I'd go probably go to Fenway five or six times a year. My brother had season tickets with a bunch of friends -- still does. The seats were out in left field, with one behind a pole. One game I remember leaving early. The Sox were down, like, 9-0 to Seattle and Mo Vaughn ended up hitting a walk-off homer. I remember thinking, 'I will never leave a game early again.' We were walking away and you could hear the crowd erupting. And I remember I went to a playoff game with my mother between the Celtics and the Knicks in the late 1980s. I just remember the old Garden. We were up in the first level, but it was under the first overhang, with all the cigarette smoke everywhere and the sticky floor.
BSJ: When you were at Fenway as a teenager, did you ever allow yourself to think: 'I could be out there someday?'
RH: Oh, yeah. I remember going to the Futures Game and some of the guys on the team were my age. Then, getting recruited by bigger schools, committing to Michigan, getting drafted my senior year. It was like, 'Wow, this could be a reality.'
BSJ: Did you have favorite baseball players?
RH: Dwight Evans, obviously Roger Clemens, later on Otis Nixon. Mike Greenwell, of course. Watching the Braves, Steve Avery, and yeah, (Tom) Glavine and (Greg) Maddux and (John) Smoltz. Going to games, it was a real treat.
BSJ: Any particular games stand out now?
RH: I remember, when I was older, going to a game where Pedro Martinez faced David Cone, Red Sox-Yankees, and I was sitting behind home plate. It was awesome to see two masters, two of the top pitchers in baseball. Anytime you got to go to a Sox-Yankees game, it was always a big deal.
BSJ: How about the other teams in town?
RH: That was the era of that great Big Three for the Celtics -- Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish. I always wanted to see Michael Jordan, but it seemed like every time the Bulls would come to town, he was scratched. It was like he never played in Boston. I didn't get as many opportunities to see the Celtics and the Bruins as much as the Red Sox. But any game was a big deal, as I'm sure it is now (for kids). I still have a stack of tickets somewhere from a bunch of those games; now, they don't have tickets anymore! I started thinking about being a fan again last year when there were times when we (as players during the pandemic) sat in the stands because there weren't any fans at games. Hopefully, we'll never have that happen again, but being able to experience (watching games from the stands) the way you did as a fan was pretty unique. It was a totally different viewpoint.
BSJ: And the Patriots?
RH: I went to one game. I went to see the Patriots and Dolphins in a pre-game game at the old (Schaefer/Sullivan/Foxboro) Stadium. They weren't very good back then. And then you had the metal bleachers and you'd stick to them in the hot weather. It wasn't like it is now Gillette. They've turned it into a mega-experience. Andre Tippett was the big guy then. And who was the guy who ended up going to Michigan, from Brockton? Greg McMurtry?
BSJ: That fandom never leaves you, I guess.
RH: You're right (chuckles). I remember, I think my rookie year (2005, with the Chicago Cubs). I'm getting ready to start a game at Wrigley and Wade Boggs and Ryne Sandberg (who were being inducted into the Hall of Fame together that summer in Cooperstown) were throwing out the first pitch. I felt like I was 10 again. I was like, 'Holy crap? Wade Boggs!' I had to force myself to focus. I said to myself, 'Get ahold of yourself. You're about to start a game.' It just took me back, because those were two guys I watched growing up. There are so many memories. I remember sitting in the bleachers with my dad, and the tickets were $5. I always loved seeing Oakland come in, Toronto. They were good teams back then -- you'd get to see Mark McGwire, (Jose Canseco) ... I remember the Texas Rangers coming to town in 1992, and it was a makeup game and it started at noon. They just opened the gate and you could sit anywhere you wanted and Nolan Ryan pitched. I got a foul ball that day that I still have somewhere.
BSJ: Some memories still seem vivid
RH: Oh, yeah. I remember when I was 19, I had a pre-draft workout at Fenway. And old grounds crew guy, Joe Mooney (who recently passed away) -- remember him? He was yelling at everybody to say off the field. I was like, 'How the heck are we supposed to have a workout when we can't go on the field?'