Who is Moe Hill?

And why is this blog making a moutain out of him?

I’m far too young to have ever seen Moe Hill play baseball, but in creating a blog dedicated to the Midwest League, who better to utilize for a poor play on words than the single greatest player in the circuit’s history?

Okay, that was a bit of hyperbole on my part. Hill wasn’t the greatest or he would have played in the majors and been enshrined in Cooperstown by now. He is, however, the single most prolific player in the league’s long history Not that this is something to be proud of.

Hill made his MWL debut as an 18-year-old with the Fox Cities Foxes in 1965 and hit .275 that year. Not bad, especially for a young kid breaking into pro ball. These days that’d likely get you promoted.

After he was released by Baltimore he latched on with the Twins and eventually found his way onto the roster of the Wisconsin Rapids club in 1971. Hill spent seven more seasons in Wisconsin Rapids, torturing the league’s pitchers and wondering what he had to do to move up the ranks.

Was he held down due to race? Was he viewed as too old by the time he had his breakout campaign with the ’74 Twins when he won the MWL triple crown (32 HR, 113 RBI, .339 Avg)? Who knows, but the bottom line is Hill’s impact on the league will never be surpassed. He led the league in homers four straight years from 1974 to 1977 and was as popular as many hometown players when the Twins visited other MWL parks.

HIll’s final stat lines as a Midwest Leaguer include 201 home runs, a .283 career average, and a slugging percentage of .515 in 969 games.

I won’t spend anymore time on this blog’s namesake at the moment. His career is explained in further (and deeper) detail elsewhere on the internet and never having seen Hill play I can’t speak to his actual skills as a player.

I first learned of Moe Hill during the early 90s when an article on his illustrious career was included in one of the Midwest League yearbook publications (These great books were published in just two seasons, 1992 and 1993, and I can’t recall which one contains the story nor do I wish to dig for it at the moment). Hill was supposed to be a member of the Rockford Cubbies’ coaching staff in 1997 but was reassigned to Daytona prior to the season and replaced by former big leaguer Tack Wilson.

Hill now works for the Orioles, his first organization in pro ball, and will be the hitting coach at Double-A Bowie for the fourth year in a row in 2009.

Every Midwest League fan should know Moe Hill and his legacy. Naming this blog after him seems like as good of a start as any. And it was easier to come up with a play on his name than Earl Cunningham’s.

But that’s another post for another time.

Only 10 days until Opening Day!