SUMMARY
- Young baseball legend Rickey Hill is considered one of the best hitters of his time.
- The Hill features the inspiring story of Rickey Hill.
The faster the pitch arrives, the quicker it finds its way back out. A saying that young baseball legend Rickey Hill had embodied his whole life. Considered one of the best hitters of his time, the slugger knew his calling from the very beginning.
Despite being born with a degenerative spine disorder, the young kid engaged in makeshift baseball games using sticks and stones. Inspired by his story, ‘The Hill,’ begins with the young kid playing his own kind of baseball behind a church, where his father used to deliver sermons.
The first glimpse of young Rickey and Gracie unfolds as Rickey plays a makeshift baseball game with sticks and stones. Gracie, a character loosely inspired by Rickey’s real-life former wife, Sherron, adds a touch of playful banter as she accuses him of cheating while he incredibly sends stones flying over long distances. Their banter goes back and forth before she calls him her boyfriend and cycles away.
The film portrays the challenges young Rickey faced, including being bullied for his leg braces and told he would never make it in baseball. Despite the hurdles, one constant support was Gracie, who stood by him even when they were miles apart. In a letter sent by Gracie to Rickey after his move to Bowie, Texas, she writes, “I hope you’re still swinging, no matter how your legs are. Knowing you, I bet you a Buffalo nickel you’re still dreaming of the majors”.
While the movie depicts incredible chemistry between the two, their characters do not marry on screen. However, in the epilogue, right after the third act, the screen shows real-life images of Rickey Hill and his then-girlfriend Sherron, capturing a fairytale wedding.
Where did Rickey Hill and his former wife get married?
On a special fall day on August 5, 1975, Rickey Hill, now a professional baseball player, celebrated his rookie days in the minor leagues by saying ‘I do’ to his childhood best friend and first love. Imagine the 18-year-old athlete exchanging vows with someone he loved right on the home plate of the Expos Stadium, a place he had always dreamed about. Notwithstanding the two eventually divorcing in 1986, the time they spent together and the love they had for each other were unmistakable.
Adding a touch of whimsicality, according to screenrant.com, Rickey’s father, a preacher who had once disliked baseball because of how injury-inducing it was for his child, never went to the stands to watch a game. Someone who fretted over the demanding nature of the game and the toll that it put on Rickey’s physical health, gladly stepped onto the ballpark to officiate the wedding.