The baseball diamond is a place of soaring home runs as well as soaring dreams. For Rickey Hill, a kid of the 1960s with a raging firestorm in his heart, the world dissipated outside of the ballpark. His journey with baseball became so inspirational that it gave birth to an artistically beautiful masterpiece of a film called ‘The Hill’. The film came out last year and it is believed that everyone who saw it, loved it.
It brilliantly showcases the love that Rickey Hill had for baseball. Coming from a low-income family and born with a degenerative spine disorder he found his love for the ballgame when playing with a stick and using it as a baseball bat. He decided to forego the leg braces he had to wear when he was eight and joined a local baseball team. From thereon, the young athlete went on to play for four seasons in the minor league before almost making it to MLB.
Now, people may be wondering, if he could play baseball and earn the nickname ‘The Hill’ for his phenomenal slugging capabilities, his spine disease must not be that severe. But it indeed, is that severe.
Degenerative disc disease necessitates two key elements. One is the presence of a structural irregularity within the spine. And two, the manifestation of associated symptoms, which may include neck or back pain, weakness, numbness, and/or radiating pain in the limbs. This commonly results from the deterioration or the absence of the intervertebral disc situated between spinal bones.
How many teams has Rickey Hill played for?
Rickey Hill’s parents knew that their kid had no discs in his spine. They fretted over him for playing the sport as passionately as he did. But good heavens, did that passion almost lead him to the grandest stage of baseball had fate not played a cruel hand. It was 1978 when he crashed into another player and fractured his spine, according to several reports.
Nevertheless, the four seasons he played in the minor leagues were like something from a film. He began in 1975 as a rookie in the Lethbridge Expos after making the tryout. He was then promoted to the High-A levels and played with the Rio Grande Valley Whitewings and the Texas City Stars. His final stretch was with the Harbor Loggers. Where he earned the moniker of being one of the best hitters in the league.
However, after he faced this life-altering injury and even after surgery and a rigorous rehabilitation process, the slugger had to retire. Although not one to be led down by adversity, he defied all odds. He still has one foot in the ballpark as a baseball coach. It seems that his spirit is one that refuses to be confined.