William Robert Hill (born April 3, 1978) is an American former

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

infielder An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field. Standard arrangement of positions In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns playing offensive and defensive roles. ...

. He played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB) for the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

and

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

. Hill attended the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...

, where he played baseball, and was then drafted by the

. In 2000, before playing for the Cubs organization, he played for the

Newark Bears The Newark Bears were an American minor league professional baseball team based in Newark, New Jersey. They were a member of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball and, later, the Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball. T ...

in the independent Atlantic League. He hit .326 with 13 home runs and 82 RBI. He also stole a team record 81 bases and walked a league record 101 times in 132 games. When Hill reached the major leagues with the Cubs, he was assigned the number 17, becoming the first player to wear the number since

Mark Grace Mark Eugene Grace (born June 28, 1964) is a former Major League Baseball (MLB) first baseman who spent 12 seasons with the Chicago Cubs and three seasons with the Arizona Diamondbacks of the National League (NL). He was a member of the 2001 Worl ...

, who had worn it from 1988 through 2000 with Chicago. Hill was traded to the

as the centerpiece of the

Aramis Ramírez Aramis Nin Ramírez (; born June 25, 1978) is a Dominican former professional baseball third baseman, who played 18 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs, and Milwaukee Brewers. He was named an All-Star t ...

trade in August 2003. With Pittsburgh in 2004, he hit .266 with two

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s and 27 RBI in a part-time role. He spent much of 2005 in Triple-A and was dealt to the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penna ...

on November 21, 2005, for a player to be named later. Hill spent the 2006 season with the Triple-A

Portland Beavers The Portland Beavers was the name of separate minor league baseball teams, which represented Portland, Oregon, in the Pacific Coast League (PCL). The team was established in 1903, the first year of the PCL. Franchise history Many baseball teams ...

. Hill signed with the

of the Atlantic League in February 2008, eight years after he began his professional career there. He hit .238 in 100 games. Hill played 24 games for the Bears in 2009. He signed with the

Chico Outlaws The Chico Outlaws were a professional baseball team based in Chico, California, in the United States. The Outlaws were a member of the Northern Division of the independent North American League, which is not affiliated with either Major League Ba ...

of the

Golden Baseball League The Golden Baseball League was an independent baseball league based in San Ramon, California, with teams located in the western United States, western Canada and northwest Mexico. The GBL was not affiliated with Major League Baseball or the orga ...

for the 2010 season. In March 2011, Hill was inducted into the University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame. From 2012 to 2014, Hill was head baseball coach at

Los Gatos High School Los Gatos High School (LGHS) is a high school in Los Gatos, California. It was founded in 1908 and is part of the Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint Union High School District, which in 2021 was ranked the best high school district in Caliifornia The sch ...

Los Gatos, California Los Gatos (, ; ) is an incorporated town in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population is 33,529 according to the 2020 census. It is located in the San Francisco Bay Area just southwest of San Jose in the foothills of the ...

, before becoming head coach at Mission College in Santa Clara in 2015.

References

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1978 births Living people Baseball players from San Jose, California Major League Baseball second basemen Chicago Cubs players Pittsburgh Pirates players Newark Bears players Miami Hurricanes baseball players Arizona League Cubs players West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx players Iowa Cubs players Nashville Sounds players Indianapolis Indians players Portland Beavers players Chico Outlaws players High school baseball coaches in the United States Mission Saints baseball coaches {{US-baseball-second-baseman-stub