Sorry for the delay her is the feature from WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN John Perston "Pete" Hill was born October 12, 1880 in Pttsburgh Pennsylvania. He was a left, center and rightfielder and also played in the infield at 1st and 2nd base fo various Negro League teams from 1899 until 1925. He was a member of the Pittsburrgh Keystones in 1899, the Cuban X Giants from 1901-02 and again from1905-1907, The Philadelphia Giants from 1903 to 1907, the Club E team1906-07, the 1907-1912 Habana team, the Leland Giants from 1908 to 1910, thethe 1908-09 Brooklyn Royal Giants, the Chicago American Giants from 1911-1918, the 1919-1921 Detroit Stars, the 193 Milwaukee Bears and the 1924-25 Baltimore Black Sox. He hit from the left side of the plate and what made him an asset was he rarely if ever struck out. In 1911 Hill played in 116 games and had ahit in 115 of those games. He was quick and fast and was a threat to steal and cold also cover a lot of round on defense because of his speed. He was often compared to Ty Cobb and mny people including myslef feel that if an All Star team was picked fromthe era Pete Hill played baseball in that outfield could consist of Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker and Pete Hill. Hil also played for the great Andrew "Rube" Foster and the tw became friends. Such close friends that when Foster started his Detroit Stars team in 1919 he asked Hill to be the player manager of the team. There was a poll taken in 1952 by the Pittsburgh Courier which was a newspaper for the colored people in the Pittsburgh area and in that poll Pete Hill was ranked asthe 4th best outfielder in Negro League basebal behind Oscar Charleston, Monte Irvin and Cristobel Torriente certainly by any stanndards so pretty ood outfielders. Cumberland "Cum" Posey though Hill to be the greatest outfielder he had ever seen and named him to his 1944 All Star team. Posey also said ill was the most consistent hitter he had seen and could hit left and right handres equally well. John Preston "Pete" Hill died in Buffalo NY on December of 1951 and fittingly was electedtohe Baseall Hall of Fame in Cooperstown NY in 2006 another of the many players victimized by bigotry.
Posted on: Mon, 09 Sep 2013 21:06:28 +0000
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