Marc Hill carved out a 14-year career as a backup catcher, including playing behind two Hall of Famers. Then he spent nearly 20 more years as a coach and manager, in both professional baseball and independent teams across the country. Hill, 73, died on August 24, his family announced on Facebook. Hill, who had been hospitalized for several days, died from complications of a liver ailment. During his playing career, Hill played for the St. Louis Cardinals (1973-74), San Francisco Giants (1975-80), Seattle Mariners (1980) and Chicago White Sox (1981-86).

Marc Kevin Hill was born in Pike County Hospital in Louisiana, MO, on February 18, 1952, but he grew up in nearby Elsberry. His first taste of catching came with the Elsberry Khoury League, where he played for 6 years. Hill was also a talented basketball player at Elsberry High School, usually scoring double digits in his games. He was named to the Class-M All-District basketball team in 1969. He stood about 6’3″ and weighed 200 pounds. When he was named to the East Missouri All-Star Team as a unanimous pick in 1970, the Columbia Daily Tribune described him as “big, burly Marc Hill” and said he was “a great jumper for a man built much like a pro football defensive end.” Hill initially was a pitcher/shortstop for the high school baseball team, but as he matured and bulked up, he moved behind the plate and became one of Missouri’s top high school catchers. He was named to the All-State Second Team as a senior in 1970. Hill was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 10th Round of the 1970 June Amateur Draft, and he signed with the team days later. The Cardinals sent scouts Fred McAlister and Joe Mathes to watch Hill, and they were impressed. “He has a real major league arm and good catching ability,” McAlister said. “And he also has a chance of developing into a respectable major-league hitter.” There was an element of destiny in Hill beginning his professional career with a St. Louis team. His father, Henry Edward Hill, played briefly in the St. Louis Browns organization in the 1940s.

Hill debuted with the Gulf Coast League Cardinals and batted .192 in 28 games and played well as catcher. He was named Rookie Catcher of the Year and was rewarded by spending several weeks with the Cardinals big-league club as a batting practice catcher. Hill improved his batting average to .232 with Cedar Rapids in 1971 and hit his first professional home run. In 1972, he hit 8 home runs while driving in 69 runs for two different Class-A teams, St. Petersburg and Modesto. He was added to the Cardinals’ 40-man roster that October, but the obstacle in Hill’s path to the majors was Ted Simmons, St. Louis’ 22-year-old All-Star catcher. Not only was Simmons an excellent hitter and catcher, but he also rarely took days off. Whoever ended up as his backup wouldn’t be guaranteed many starts at all.

St. Louis moved Hill up to Double-A Arkansas in 1973, and he batted .241 with 9 homers. His defensive abilities made a fan out of his manager, Tom Burgess. He said the young catcher “throws better than [Johnny] Bench, or anybody… Hill will move Ted Simmons to another position.” Hill was promoted to Triple-A Tulsa at the end of August and proceeded to rip the cover off the ball. In one of his first games, he homered twice and drove in 5 runs in a 6-2 win over Wichita. He batted .414 in 9 games with Tulsa and was promoted late in the season to St. Louis. Hill started a game on September 28, and he went 0-for-3 with a strikeout and double play as Mike Thompson and Diego Segui combined on a 3-0 shutout of Philadelphia. Hill returned to Tulsa in 1974, as the parent club had Simmons as the starting catcher and veteran Tim McCarver as the backup. He hit steadily and maintained a patient outlook. “I might be going crazy reading every day Simmons was 2-for-4 and wondering if I was going to be traded,” he told the Tulsa Daily World. “But Mr. Kennedy [Bob Kennedy, general manager] told me they would never have spent this much time with me if they hadn’t intended for me to be their catcher. So I don’t worry about Simmons. I figure it’s just a matter of time until I am catching and he’s on first [base].”

The Cardinals released veteran first baseman Jim Hickman in July 1974 and brought Hill to the majors. He was given several starts, with Simmons displacing Joe Torre at first base. He singled off Cincinnati’s Don Gullett on July 16, 1974, for his first major-league hit. He later doubled off Pedro Borbon and scored his first run on a Jim Dwyer sacrifice fly. Hill batted over .300 during his week as a regular catcher, but then Simmons returned to his normal position and Hill spent the rest of the season in the minors or coming off the bench with the Cardinals. In 10 games, he batted .238. That October, St. Louis traded Hill to San Francisco for catcher Ken Rudolph and pitcher Elias Sosa.

The Giants had good-but-not-great catchers in Dave Rader and Mike Sadek, so Hill was able to get a share of the catching duties during his time with the Giants. San Francisco had heard the good things about Hill’s defense and throwing arm, and he made a favorable impression in spring training by starting his workouts before the other players even arrived. Well, Giants minor-league manager Rocky Bridges was less impressed when he saw Hill working up a sweat all alone on the field. “Isn’t it awful? He really wants to play. If he isn’t careful, he can louse things up for everybody else,” Bridges cracked. Hill played in 72 games, including 434 innings at catcher, and he committed 2 errors for a .994 fielding percentage. He threw out 36.5% of would-be base stealers, which was above league average. Offensively, Hill batted just .214, but he hit 5 home runs and drove in 23 runs. His first major-league homer came in his first start for the Giants on April 12, and it was a 2-run shot off Atlanta’s Carl Morton. Hill’s average dropped to .183 in 1976, and his season ended in August after he tore ligaments in his knee. After recovering, Hill saw his playing time increase in 1977, as he topped 100 games played in a season for the first time in his major-league career. He had his ups and downs at the plate, but even when his batting average fell below .220, his throwing arm never slumped. He was 0-for-3 in a game against Cincinnati on May 25, but he threw out Dave Concepcion and Ed Armbrister trying to steal, shutting down two rallies in a 6-5 Giants win. Concepcion had stolen 13 bases in a row before Hill caught him. The catcher also got used to working with the Giants pitching staff. “Now that I’m catching them a little more I know what they like and don’t like,” he explained. Hill ended the year with a .250/.316/.366 slash line in 108 games. He hit 9 home runs and drove in 50, which were both career bests. During his time with the Giants, he acquired the nickname of “Booter,” a variation of “Boot” Hill.

During spring training in 1978, the Giants traded Alexander in a massive deal to land pitcher Vida Blue from Oakland. Not only did the move give the Giants an ace pitcher, but it essentially handed the starting catcher role to Hill. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been first string,” he said. Hill got off to a slow start and spent much of the first half of the season batting around .200. He did, however, steal his one and only career base on May 2 against St. Louis — off catcher Ted Simmons of all people. Giants owner Bob Lurie had promised to buy the first base Hill ever stole and have it bronzed for the catcher. Hill’s bat picked up in the summer, and he hit .278 over the final three months of the season. All total, Hill slashed .243/.329/.316 in a career-high 117 games. He had one of his best offensive games the following year, on April 19, 1979. He contributed to a 14-10 win over San Diego with 4 RBIs, including a 3-run homer off Mickey Lolich. That game aside, Hill spent much of the season under .200 and lost playing time to Sadek and rookie catcher Dennis Littlejohn. He had just brought his batting average up to .207 when he was involved in a home plate collision with New York Mets catcher John Stearns on July 24. Stearns knocked him down, and the Giants catcher landed on his right hand, losing the ball in the process. Not only was Stearns called safe, but Hill also broke his wrist, ending his season.

San Francisco ensured that the starting catcher for 1980 would be Hill — Milt Hill, who signed a 5-year contract as a free agent. Marc Hill appeared in 17 games for the Giants and hit .171 before he was placed on waivers on June 20. He was claimed by the Seattle Mariners but didn’t play much for his new team until manager Darrell Johnson was replaced by Maury Wills. Wills had worked as a baserunning instructor with the Giants, and he began giving Hill starts over light-hitting catcher Larry Cox. He hit well enough over the remainder of the season to bat .229 for Seattle and .207 overall. He and Seattle parted ways after the season, as Hill was seeking a multiyear contract as a free agent. “I don’t feel I’m worth $250,000 a year — like a Milt May — and I don’t think any ballclub is going to pay me that,” Hill told the Kitsap Sun. “But I’m looking for a good contract with some security. You never know when you’re going to get hurt in this game.”

Hill initially didn’t get any takers in baseball’s re-entry draft, which was the early version of modern free agency. He almost returned to the Mariners but signed with the Chicago White Sox on a 1-year deal. The only catchers the Sox had were Hill and Jim Essian… until the team landed Carlton Fisk about a month later, after the Boston Red Sox made an infamous contract snafu and lost their All-Star catcher. The signing virtually eliminated Hill’s chance to play, and he was hitless in 6 at-bats during the strike-shortened 1981 season. But Sox manager Tony La Russa valued Hill’s experience and defensive skills, and the catcher made Chicago his home for the rest of his playing career. He got his first White Sox hit on May 1, 1982, and he hit his first Sox homer a week later, helping to spur a comeback 7-4 win over Seattle. Fisk was one of the team’s most productive hitters, but Hill became a valuable backup. During the team’s division-winning season of 1983, he played in 58 games and batted .226 while letting the veteran Fisk get much-needed breaks. He also threw out runners at a 37.7% rate, above league average. “I don’t see any holes on this team,” Hill said about the White Sox in September. “We just have the type of club that if you give us an opportunity to win, we will beat you.” Chicago ultimately lost to Baltimore in the AL Championship Series 4 games; Hill didn’t make an appearance in the series.

Hill saw the most playing time with the White Sox in 1984, when he appeared in 77 games and batted .233 with 5 home runs and 20 RBIs. He filled in well when Fisk was injured, and he didn’t complain when La Russa gave playing time to rookie catcher Joel Skinner. “I’ve never met anybody as totally unselfish as Marc Hill,” the manager said. “He’s as good a man to have on a club as any I’ve seen, and he’s got talent. There are a lot of us, like I was, who are good guys on a club, but we can’t play. He can play.” The return of Fisk to full health in 1985 and ’86, and the emergence of rookie catchers, left Hill with limited playing time. He played in 40 games in 1985 and batted .133 in 95 plate appearances. In 22 games in 1986, Hill hit .158 — 3 singles in 19 at-bats. The White Sox promoted catcher Scott Bradley to the majors on May 27, 1986, and released Hill. He remained with the team as a catching instructor for the rest of the season and was re-signed as a free agent in October, after catcher Ron Karkovice injured his thumb on a foul tip. He did not make an appearance in the team’s final games, and when the season ended, so did Hill’s playing career.

Over 14 seasons, Hill appeared in a total of 737 games. He slashed .223/.295/.317, and his 404 hits included 62 doubles, 3 triples and 34 home runs. He drove in 198 runs and scored 146 times. Hill had a career .990 fielding percentage behind the plate and threw out 35 percent of all baserunners.

Since Hill was already working as a White Sox instructor in 1986, his transition into a secondary career was already in the works. He wasn’t expecting to be named a manager so soon, but new White Sox general manager Larry Himes asked Hill to manage the Daytona Beach Admirals of the Class-A Florida State League. He said it gave him a new appreciation for his former managers like La Russa and Jim Fregosi. “I didn’t think there would be so many things to do,” Hill said. “But I have to make reports on our players. I also have to make reports on every player in the league twice a year. There’s 14 teams in this league — that’s a lot of reports.” After that season, he served as a coach for the Houston Astros and New York Yankees. Yankees catcher Matt Nokes heaped praise on Hill for improving his throwing mechanics. “Marc totally changed my throwing motion. Throwing was my biggest weakness,” the All-Star catcher said. “He has me throwing in a compact motion instead of the long style I had been using. He also changed my release. The difference is amazing. I get rid of the ball much quicker now, with more on the throw.”

The Seattle Mariners had Hill manage in the minors in 1992-94, and then he managed in the Pittsburgh system from 1995 to 1997. He was named Manager of the Year in 1992 with the Peninsula Pilots of the Carolina League. He managed the independent River City Rascals of the Frontier League in 2003 after several years as a minor-league instructor for the Pirates. Among the players he coached or managed during his career were Sammy Sosa, Raul Mondesi and Alex Rodriguez. Hill is survived by his children, Kevin, Kyle and Kara, and his wife, Judi.

Follow me on Instagram: @rip_mlb

Follow me on Facebook: ripbaseball

Follow me on Bluesky: @ripmlb

Follow me on Threads: @rip_mlb

Support RIP Baseball