Thanks to the generous gifts of Hill alumni and parents, Hill’s varsity baseball field underwent extensive renovations for the 2011 season. Baseball has a long, storied tradition at Hill, and a new field is the beginning of the next chapter of Hill baseball.
A brief history of baseball at The HillCompetitive interscholastic baseball at The Hill dates back nearly 125 years to 1887 when Hill played a team from Reading. The field at that time was on the present day academic quadrangle. Home plate was near the big tree that stands between the east end of Upper School and Ryan Library, and the left field boundary was the former Main Building, where the Academic Center currently stands.
Shortly after baseball became a competitive sport, Headmaster John Meigs purchased the land between what today is the Admission parking lot and Green Street; at that time, this field was an orchard. Mr. Meigs transformed the orchard into a new baseball field for the school. Home plate was located near where Foster Dormitory stands today, and large bleachers with a covered grand stand ran along the right foul line. However, with the increasing popularity of track and field, a track was constructed around the baseball field. Having baseball and track, both spring sports, in the same area posed both logistic and safety concerns, and in 1958-59 the baseball field was moved to its current location near the entrance to the Far Fields.
*Thanks to Mr. Willis Pierre for his extensive and thorough research of the history of The Hill School and for providing the history of baseball at The Hill.
Dr. James Finn arrived at The Hill in 1976 and became the team’s head coach in 1978. Under his guidance, baseball became one of the School’s dominant sports in the 1980s and 1990s; between 1986-99, the team’s record was an incredible 188-46-2, including three undefeated seasons and five state championships. Other highlights of Finn’s tenure include:
· Six players were drafted and played semi-pro baseball between 1984-98:
o Fritz Hamburg ’84 – Philadelphia Phillies
o Dave Willman ’88 – Philadelphia Phillies
o Scott Eidle ’89 – Houston Astros
o Larry Williams ’92 – Pittsburgh Pirates
o George Pickard ‘95 – Houston Astros
o Chad Hausman ’98 – Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
· Four baseball alumni currently are coaching collegiate baseball:
o Lloyd Brewer ’76 – Princeton University
o Fritz Hamburg ’84 – St. Joseph’s University
o Tom Walter ’87 – Wake Forest University
o Phil Newman ’00 – Johns Hopkins University
· In the past decade, over 15 alumni have gone on to play collegiate baseball at Division I and top Division III schools, including Dickinson College, Georgetown University, Ursinus College, Bucknell University, The University of Pennsylvania, Elon College, and Amherst College.
The New Field
During the summer of 2010, a new baseball field was proposed as part of a three-part athletic facilities improvement plan. After discussing several possible solutions to the current layout problem, it was determined that the most effective solution would be to move back home plate 75 feet and add a drainage basin at the bottom of the hill to improve drainage throughout and to create a level, enclosed playing field.
The new field will feature more spacious dugouts than the previous field; a nine-inning scoreboard similar to scoreboards seen at top collegiate facilities; a fenced-in bullpen; a hitting tunnel; and major-league quality sod. The field’s new outfield fence dimensions will be 325 feet down each foul line, 378 feet to left and right-center, and 393 feet to center field. The cost estimate for the facility upgrade was set at $375,000. Thanks to the generosity of an anonymous donor, a lead gift of $200,000 allowed the project to begin construction in December of 2010. Several alumni and parents have since stepped forward and given significantly to the field to close the remaining funding gap.
The first game on the new field was played on April 27, 2011. At that time, the field was still not 100% complete, but the team needed home field playing time. The finishing touches have since been added, and in the 2012 season, a formal dedication of the new field and a tribute to Coach Jim Finn will be planned. Invitations will follow to the entire Hill baseball community.
“Being able to play on an enclosed, collegiate quality field will be a great privilege for all the future members of the program,” said former Hill baseball player and current assistant coach Chris Drowne ’89. “The new field also will be an honor to those alumni of the program who brought multiple state titles, undefeated seasons, and overall success to Hill baseball in the past.”