Why The OLDEST Player In Baseball Refuses To Retire

I have an addiction. An addiction I never knew I had until today, but I can't stop talking about baseball players who teach themselves to throw with their non-dominant hand apparently. Pablo Sandoval did it, considering he was a lefty and wanted to play shortstop and played third base, and after choosing to look into the oldest player in baseball, Dick Mountain's life, come to find out he did the exact opposite. Yes, that's what people call Rich Hill. The 44-year-old lefty pitcher who was actually a naturally born righty who taught himself to throw lefty when he was a kid. Now, for a lefty to teach himself to throw righty to play the infield makes sense, but why would a righty teach himself to throw lefty? Why is that a benefit? You're limiting the positions you can play. After doing some hard-hitting research, a couple clicks on Google, I don't know, but what we do know is how he started throwing lefty, like why it started to happen and the influence. His older brother, John, always heard his older baseball-playing brothers tell him the quickest way to the major leagues was as a lefty pitcher. Again, why? I don't know, but Rich was very adamant as a young kid that he wanted to be a big leaguer someday, so John took his older brother's advice and decided to teach his 6-year-old brother how to throw lefty. John was 20 by the way, so much older than Rich, and came up with an idea to make this happen. John was a gymnast and took tape from his gymnastics bag and taped Rich's right hand behind his back and around his waist, and threatened to shoot him with a BB gun if he ever threw right-handed again. I'm just kidding. But from that point on, John just made an emphasis on Rich throwing with his left hand rather than right, and as Rich himself would say years later, I guess when you're only 6, even if your right hand is the dominant one, you're still young enough to make throwing with your left hand seem like second nature. It's not like trying to all of a sudden switch when you're 35 or something, and you've spent so many years in your life getting used to using whatever hand you've always used. But anyway, regardless if his brother was right or not, whether it was actually an advantage to be a lefty pitcher, it worked for Rich in what has turned into one of the most fascinating careers in baseball history. Several years later, Rich Hill was on his varsity high school baseball team in Milton High in Massachusetts as a freshman, only one of four players to do that in the school's history, going on to eventually get drafted by the Reds in the 36th round of the draft in 1999. So, 36th rounder, it's not like he was some prized pick and decided to go to college anyway at the University of Michigan, and one year into his college career, it made sense why he was a 36th rounder. He had an ERA over 9 in 13 games, but was much better in his sophomore year as a full-time starting pitcher while also playing in a Cape Cod Summer League, all leading to his second time getting drafted, this time in the 7th round by the Angels, and for the second time said no to return to Michigan for another year where he was good, getting drafted again now being in the 4th round by the Chicago Cubs, and third time's a charm, he'd sign with them and begin his professional career. Being rated as having one of the best curveballs in the draft, and by 2004 he was rated as having the best curveball in the Cubs organization. That was his bread and butter, that would end up being his bread and butter and his best friend for years to come, but even though it was disgusting, he still needed to figure out how to fully hone it all. He struggled bad in the few outings he got in 2005, was much better in 2006, with 2007 being his best yet, almost 200 innings with a 3.92 ERA. He wasn't dominant, but he gave the first place Cubs innings and was effective, but this would unfortunately be when things looked to be trending in a really bad way for Hill, a path that made it seem like he just wasn't good enough to be a big league pitcher for that long or consistently to have that long of a career. He was awful with his command to begin 2008, walking 18 hitters through his first 5 starts, which was more than the strikeouts he had, and in what ended up as his final start for the Cubs, Hill walked 4 of the first 6 batters he faced, was removed in the first inning, sent down to the minor leagues, where he only continued to pitch poorly, and the same went for when he pitched in Venezuela that offseason. I mean, whether it was Chicago, Iowa, Florida, Arizona, and even fleeing the country to frickin Venezuela, Hill just wasn't finding success, soon getting traded to the Orioles in a blockbuster trade that got the Cubs cash considerations, hell yeah, but as for Hill's time in Baltimore, hell no, it was a complete disaster. He got an elbow injury in spring training, came back during the season to suck only for it to be revealed he had been pitching with a torn labrum in his left shoulder the entire time, getting surgery, and going to free agency with a cardinal signed him and gave him a shot to be in the rotation only to not make the rotation, pitching triple A mostly out of the bullpen, where he was just and eventually was back to being a free agent midway through the season. Rich had had it with these bird teams, it clearly wasn't working out, and that's when the Red Sox came calling, midway through 2010 to give him a chance, where it was mostly just Hill staying afloat but not really doing anything, considering in the 3 years he was with Boston, he pitched a total of 32 and two thirds innings and spending most of his time either in triple A or recovering from Tommy John surgery, which he'd get during 2011. He joined Cleveland in 2013 and make the reliever was awful, went right back to the Red Sox on another minor league deal and this is where things hit rock bottom, not just on the baseball field but more importantly off of it, when Rich's newborn son Brooks had a serious brain malformation and passed away just a couple months after being born. This was going on during spring training in 2014, so as a result Hill of course arrived late but still earlier than it seems like someone would after such a sad, tragic thing to have happen, but he needed to get away, going on to not make the Red Sox roster and eventually get traded months later for cash considerations, this time to the second team that originally drafted him in Anaheim, only instead of him being the one to say no this time it was them, saying psych, releasing him a couple weeks later, joining the Yankees on a minor league contract just to throw 5 innings for them and end up a free agent yet again, signing another minor league deal now at the Nationals, and things just continued to look bleak for his career. He didn't make the Nationals roster for 2015 even though he pitched well in spring training games, with Hill publicly saying he was disappointed by the decision, going on to opt out of his contract with them a few months later after pitching out of the bullpen in AAA. His next move, no more minor league contracts, he didn't get any offers and it made sense, he had a career ERA near 5, was in his mid 30's, didn't throw hard, I mean the man was moving nowhere fast, so he went inside with an independent league team to try and start from square one basically. A big thing for Hill was being a starting pitcher, he really wanted to get back to being that, he was determined to be a starting pitcher, joining the Long Island Ducks in late July. I mean, a 35 year old soft tosser playing indie ball, obvious shot in the dark. But what if I told you a year after this, Hill would be pitching well in meaningful games for the first place Dodgers. My god, baseball is so magical. It was two starts in indie ball that changed everything. Hill dominated, striking out 14 hitters in 6 innings in his first start, throwing 11 innings over his 2 starts at the Ducks, striking out 21 hitters, allowing just 2 hits and not allowing a single run. And just 2 weeks after joining the Ducks and making these starts, Hill was right back with the Red Sox for the 7th time, pitching well in 5 starts in AAA and coming back up to the big leagues for the month of September. The month that fully kicked off the revived career of Rich Hill. This was the beginning of the Rich Hill we've all come to know and a month I personally will never forget. The 2015 Red Sox sucked. There's a lot about that team to forget about. By September, their season was done, but I do remember this being the first time I had ever heard about Rich Hill. I mean, I remember the whole process. Like, I remember him coming up, not knowing anything about him. I knew absolutely nothing about the guy other than the fact that he was some old soft throwing 35 year old trying to absolutely nothing from the guy in return. This was a man nobody had really known much about, considering he hadn't done much in his first 10 years in baseball, just bouncing around from organization to organization, spending so much time in the minor leagues. So what followed was just incredible. This guy just coming out of nowhere to dominate as well as anyone. And it's also where he was rewarded maybe the best nickname in baseball, Dick Mountain. The name came from teammate Brock Holt, who found it funny because instead of Richard, you got Dick and in place of Hill, you got Mountain. Get it? Because by the way, that's me being real. I never put two and two together until now, especially the Mountain part. I just realized, oh yeah, Hill and Mountain because, you know, Hill and a Mountain. Like, I'm not very smart. Disregard me. Hill started four games with the Red Sox to end the year, throwing seven shutout innings in Tampa with 10 strikeouts. Struck out 10 more hitters in his next start in Toronto and seven more innings before throwing a complete game two hit shutout against the Orioles in his third start with, you guessed it, 10 strikeouts. Just coming down from the rafters to shock the entire baseball world. And as a result, Hill was rewarded with the most money he'd ever gotten in his life. Ironically with the Oakland freaking A's, getting a $6 million contract for 2016 and even getting the opening day start after poisoning who was supposed to be the opening day starter, Sonny Gray with food poisoning that put him in the hospital. I'm just kidding. Hill didn't do that, but it would have been big brain for sure. Either way, Hill was all of a sudden an opening day starter and continued right where he left off from 2015. Pitching to a 2.25 VRA, winning nine games in his first 14 starts and even winning American League Pitcher of the Month for May before being traded to the Dodgers where he only got better. At one point, throwing a perfect game through seven innings before unfortunately being taken out of the game, which I feel like happens all of the time now, at least with no hitters. But that was apparently the first time in Major League history that a manager had pulled a pitcher that late in the game with a perfect game in reach. But overall, Hill was awesome. Yeah, he was old. Yeah, he didn't throw hard. And yeah, he wasn't necessarily someone you can rely on to go that deep into games for you on a consistent basis. But Hill and his filthy curve ball banded together to find success. And after a wildly successful 2016, he was rewarded even more. $6 million was his previous highest payday coming from Oakland. Well, how about that again? Times eight. With Hill signing a three-year deal worth $48 million to stay with the Dodgers. And 2017 continued with more success and bizarre things you'll really only see with someone like Rich Hill. Now, it's not like getting blisters are exclusive to Rich Hill, but he's probably the most prone to getting them considering how much he throws and relies on his heavy spinning curve ball. And as a result, Hill had to go on the injured list multiple times because of a blister on his left middle finger. But besides that, it was a good year. At one point winning National League Pitcher of the Month for July. It was a weird game in August where Hill had a perfect game going through eight only to lose it on an error in the ninth. And even though staying in to pitch the 10th, he'd lose the no-hitter on a walk-off home run. So he made history. Rich Hill can forever say he was the first to ever give up an extra innings walk-off home run to break up a no-hitter and have a perfect game broken up by a ninth inning error while also being the first pitcher since Leffy Leffield of the 1906 Pittsburgh Pirates to lose a decision despite throwing at least nine innings and allowing one or fewer hits and no walks. Got all that? No? Great. Anyway, Hill had more blister issues in 2018 but still was able to put up another solid season for the Dodgers and had his last start that season in Game 4 of the World Series. One that ended in controversy though because Hill, who was dominating through six innings, was taken out after getting the first out of the seventh leading to the Red Sox coming back to tie and eventually win the game scoring nine runs against the Dodger bullpen. Even Donald Trump felt the need to chime in on this. Hill only pitched so much in 2019 because of injuries and what would end up as his last year with the Dodgers and same for 2020 because it was shortened for everyone where he was with the Twins that year. But by 2021, Hill was back to having a full season now on the raise winning yet another American League Pitcher of the Month award for May before getting traded to the Mets where he'd also pitch real well and at this point Hill is just playing the role of Edwin Jackson just making a pit stop to every team he can. 2022 it was back with the Red Sox where he was solid enough but he struggled a lot more since 2023 after signing with the Pirates getting traded to the Padres where he was worse in the five minutes he pitched there and threw a total of just three and two-thirds innings in 2024. And it was with the Red Sox again for like the 12th time after signing a minor league deal with them just to get released a month later which is where we stand today. Dick Mountain is 44 years old, doesn't even throw 89 miles an hour, hasn't really shown much success at all in a couple of years so what's next? Well I would say retirement except that's what I also would have said five years ago and four years ago and three years ago and two years ago and one years ago. Every year it seems like it's the perfect time for Hill to finally hang him up and call it a career but he never does and you know what? I freaking love it. Obviously there's no guarantee he plays next year but he damn well wants to play next year in what would be his age 45 season and in anticipation for it he's pitching for Team USA in the premier 12 international baseball tournament where most of his teammates and opponents are young enough to be his own children and what has he done in this tournament at the time of this video? Three scoreless innings in his first start and in his second that came in a must-win situation for Team USA three and a third scoreless with six strikeouts. Rich Hill coming back for his age 45 season isn't a guarantee but whether it happens or not the man's ability to just not call anything quits and keep going is super admirable. There's no other way to look at it and I think it's even more motivating considering it's not like we're talking about a Justin Verlander or Max Scherzer type guy here. This isn't a future hall of famer that can still light up a radar gun. This is a non-hall of famer that never lit up the radar gun. He doesn't have insanely sexy stuff. He really only has one pitch that's ever been looked at as elite but you know as they say you can't have the dick without the mountain. It's just it's what makes him so great. He's worked very hard on the true art of pitching knowing he can't overpower anyone. He finds every way he can to fool hitters like switching arm angles on random pitches sometimes throwing over the top and dropping down like he's throwing a frisbee. He doesn't throw hard. He's been released like 15 times and he's about to hit his mid 40s. Cool. Doesn't matter. Rich Hill is still going to find his way onto a mound and compete. Sometimes he'll fail and get his ass kicked. Other times he'll be the one succeeding and kicking ass and again whether he pitches again or not he has succeeded far enough especially considering how bleak things looked in 2014. Hill's gone on to make over 75 million dollars in career earnings and stick in the big leagues for parts of 20 seasons in a row. He'll never be the best but that's what makes it all so inspiring. Rich Hill has been the underdog from day one and 20 years later still is. 20 years of failure and finding his way back up on his feet to kick ass and stick around. That is the ultimate formula of a badass and Brooks is most definitely smiling from up above. Let me know your thoughts and thank you for watching.