1960-1961

Dave Hillman, grew up in Dungannon and went through the Dungannon schools, playing baseball and basketball, and captained the Dungannon High School basketball team for three years. Upon graduating from Dungannon High in 1945, Dave joined the Air Force that September and served until April 1947.

On the next-to-last day of 1949, the Chicago Cubs announced the signing of five amateur ballplayers, one of whom was Dave. He was assigned to the Rock Hill (South Carolina) Chiefs of the Class-B Tri-State League. He pitched there in 1950 and again in 1951. In 1952, Chicago promoted Dave to Single-A Des Moines. He also got a taste of Triple A, throwing five innings in two games for the Springfield Cubs. He played the full 1953 season for Springfield. Dave spent 1954 in Beaumont in the Double-A Texas League. This year earned him a contract with the Cubs and brought him to spring training in Mesa to vie for a spot with the big-league team.

In May, the Cubs optioned Dave to the Pacific Coast League’s Los Angeles Angels. Dave spent most of 1956 with the Angels, only brought up to the big leagues at the very end of the year.

He began 1957 with the Cubs, losing a game in relief. About a week later, he was optioned to the Portland Beavers for a few weeks, then recalled in time to lose four more games, all in a row, in June.

After the season, the Cubs traded Dave to the Boston Red Sox on November 21st for slugger Dick Gernert.

His Red Sox career almost ended before it began. Early in the morning of March 10th, the automobile Marty Keough was driving reportedly hit a soft shoulder and rolled over five times before coming to a stop. The AP report said the accident occurred at 1:15 AM but the two players claimed it happened at 12:35 AM and that they would have otherwise made it back to the Safari Hotel before the 1:00 AM curfew. They were traveling 70 mph in a 45-mph zone, and the car was demolished after skidding over 600 feet and landing on its roof. Keough was shaken up, but Dave required seven stitches in his head and badly bruised his right shoulder. Dave showed up later that day, his arm in a sling. He returned to action on April 16.

He pitched three scoreless one-hit innings against the Yankees on April 21st, but then was not used again for almost a month. He pitched in 15 games for Boston, through July 4th, and was 0-3 (5.05). Then, bunting, a knuckleball tore the fingernail off the index finger of his right hand. He returned to the disabled list. He returned only long enough to pitch once more, for an inning and a third on September 27th, giving up three runs in a game the Orioles won, 17-3.

In 1961, Hillman posted a winning record. He went to 2-0 on May 20th, with 2 2/3 innings of hitless relief, Boston winning the game in the 10th. He lost a couple of games but went to 3-2 with six innings of scoreless relief in the second game of the July 16 doubleheader against the White Sox, the Red Sox winning the game in 12. On August 19th, hard luck hit again. Dave was struck by a batted ball and suffered a broken left thumb, ending his season. He finished 1961 with the 3-2 record after 78 innings of work in 28 games, all but one in relief, and an excellent 2.77 ERA.

The Red Sox finished in sixth place. Boston placed Dave on the roster of the Seattle Rainiers. On October 13th, his contract was assigned to the Cincinnati Reds on a conditional basis, the Reds having until 30 days after the 1962 season opened to decide if they wanted to keep him. Cincinnati did not keep him. They returned him to the Red Sox on April 17th, who asked they instead send him to the Syracuse Chiefs, though he was on a Red Sox contract. Before he played a game for Syracuse, the New York Mets purchased his contract.

He pitched in 13 games for the Mets, with no decisions but one save. The Mets optioned him back to Syracuse. He does not appear to have pitched for Syracuse, or for any other professional team, from that point forward.

Dave  lived in Kingsport, Tennessee, where he worked as a clothing salesman for the firm of Fuller and Hillman, Inc.and retired in 1990.

Dave Hillman died at age 95 in Kingsport, Tennessee, on November 20, 2022.