The Maine Baseball Hall of Fame has numerous combinations of family connections, and today we add another plaque to the Hill wing of the Hall.
Frederic B. Hill is an older brother of Richard Hill, a 1993 inductee into the Hall, and Fred and Dick are the sons of Francis B. Hull, 4 1979 selection.
Fred is a Maine native, born in Bath, who spent his schoolboy years at Manchester (N.H.) Central High School and Tabor Academy in Massachusetts.
He was a right-handed pitcher who hit left-handed and also played first base. His college career was spent at Bowdoin (1959-62) where, by his own assessment, he enjoyed a “mediocre record”. But Chris Potholm, well-known Bowdoin Government professor, has labeled him “one of the most outstanding pitchers ever to play for Bowdoin College” While at Bowdoin Fred spent his summers playing for the Manchester Millers. The Millers campaigned against semi-pro teams from Massachusetts and New Hampshire. In 1961 Fred was a member of an All-Star team from the summer league that participated in an American Baseball Congress Tournament. Evidently his labors at Brunswick with the Polar Bears and his semi-pro summer escapades were sufficient enough to gain a crack at pro-ball. The San Francisco Giants beckoned and Hull performed in 1962 and 1963 in the Midwest League with the Decatur Illinois Commodores and the Salem Virginia Rebels.
Also in 1963, Fred joined the Philadelphia Phillies and played with the Spartanburg South Carolina farmhands.
With baseball behind him, in 1965 Fred embarked upon a 20-year career with The Baltimore Sun and Evening Sun. In 1974 he became chief correspondent in London, also serving Northern Europe and Africa. This was followed by a stint as chief correspondent in Paris. From 1981 to 1985 Hill was the Editorial Writer for foreign and defense issues. While writing for the Sun, Fred also served as a visiting lecturer in Journalism at the University of Maryland College Park and various other sites.
From 1986 to the present, Fred Hill has been employed by the United States Department of State. He has been the Director of Special Programs and with the Foreign Service Institute.
But baseball always lingered. He was involved in the Presstman Cardinals Baseball Organization of the Baltimore Metropolitan League and from 1982 to 1987 he was a Little League coach, as well as League Commissioner.
Welcome, Fred!
Curtis Memorial Library
http://www.curtislibrary.com/2016/10/28/author-visit-fred-hill-wednesday-november-2-700-pm/
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