Glenallen Hill (born March 22, 1965) is an American former Major League Baseball outfielder and coach. He played with the Toronto Blue Jays (1989–1991), Cleveland Indians (1991–1993), Chicago Cubs (1993–1994, 1998–2000), San Francisco Giants (1995–1997), Seattle Mariners (1998), New York Yankees (2000), and Anaheim Angels (2001) during his 13-year career. With the Yankees, he won the 2000 World Series over the New York Mets and was named the American League Player of the Month in August 2000. He was the first designated hitter used by a National League team in a regular season game with the Giants in 1997.
Hill coached and managed in the Colorado Rockies organization beginning in 2003. He was the team's first base coach from 2007 to 2012, after which he managed in Triple-A through 2019.
Early life
Hill was born in Santa Cruz, California. His mother, Francile McDuffie-Hill, worked at Dominican Hospital. His father worked as a trucker and later in construction. where he had received scholarship offers to play both baseball and football.
Playing career
Toronto Blue Jays
Draft and minor leagues (1983–89)
The Toronto Blue Jays drafted Hill in the 1983 Major League Baseball (MLB) draft, in the ninth round and 219th overall.
Major leagues (1989–91)
Hill made his major league debut on July 31, 1989 with the Blue Jays. He collected his first major league hit that night, an RBI single off of Andy Hawkins of the New York Yankees. In 19 MLB games that year, he collected 15 hits including his first career home run and seven runs batted in. His play that season allowed him to remain with the team for the 1990 season, where he hit .231 over 84 games including 12 home runs and 32 runs batted in. In 1991, he played in 35 games for the Blue Jays, batting .253. Hill played in 37 games for the Indians in 1991, collecting 32 hits while driving in 14 runs. In his sole full season in Cleveland in 1992, Hill played in 102 games, with 18 home runs and 49 runs batted in (RBI) (then career-highs). Hill played in 66 games for the Indians in 1993 and hit only .224. Hill played in 31 games for the Cubs in his first season, hitting .345 with 22 RBI. In 1994, he played in 89 games and clubbed 10 home runs while collecting 38 RBI before the 1994–95 MLB strike cancelled the remainder of the season. On April 7, 1995, he was granted free agency. He was out of action until August 5, playing in only 98 games while hitting .280 with 19 homers and 67 RBI. In 1997, he hit .261 with 11 home runs and 64 RBI. That year, he played in his first postseason games against the Marlins. He went 0-for-7 with two walks. Following the Giants defeat, Hill elected free agency on October 29.
Seattle Mariners (1998)
Hill signed with the Mariners on January 8, 1998 for $300,000. He hit .290 with 12 homers and 33 RBI before being placed on waivers due to his poor defense. On May 11, Hill became the first, and thus far only player to hit a home run on the three-story residential building across the street from Wrigley Field at 1032 W. Waveland Ave. The shot came off Steve Woodard in the second inning of the Cubs' 14–8 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers. Hill was named the AL Player of the Month in August, batting .411 with 10 home runs. He played in 40 games for the Yankees in his final full MLB season, mostly as a designated hitter. He hit 16 home runs in a rotating designated hitter role and was added to the postseason roster. He played in four games in the American League (AL) Division Series against the Oakland Athletics and was 1-for-12 with 2 RBI. In the AL Championship Series against the Mariners, Hill played in two games and went 0-for-2, striking out in both of his plate appearances.
On December 20, 2007, Hill was also named in Jason Grimsley's unsealed affidavit as a user of steroids. Hill and Grimsley were teammates on the 2000 New York Yankees. In a February 2008 joint press release with Matt Herges issued by the Colorado Rockies, Hill admitted to having used steroids.
In 2007, Hill started wearing a helmet while coaching first base following the death of Tulsa Drillers (a Rockies minor-league affiliate) first base coach and former major leaguer Mike Coolbaugh from injuries sustained when hit in the head by a batted ball. Hill and Oakland's Rene Lachemann were the only coaches at the major league level to do so that year. Hill quickly became an advocate for all first base coaches to wear helmets. In 2007, Joe Garagiola Jr., MLB's vice president of baseball operations, adopted a rule requiring all professional baseball base coaches to wear helmets beginning in 2008. Hill remained first base coach of the Rockies through the 2012 season.
Hill managed the Colorado Springs Sky Sox during the 2013 and 2014 seasons while the Sky Sox were the Triple-A affiliates of the Rockies. He was named the manager of the Albuquerque Isotopes on January 8, 2015, after the Rockies changed their Triple-A affiliate from Colorado Springs to Albuquerque . Hill left Albuquerque after the 2019 season. When he awoke from the incident, he had cuts on his hands and feet due to walking across shards of broken glass from a table he knocked over and also fell down a flight of stairs. His teammates began calling him "Spiderman" afterwards. In April 2017, as manager of the Albuquerque Isotopes, he allowed a giant pink-toed tarantula to crawl on his arm during a team media day to demonstrate he was not arachnophobic. A photograph taken that day was used on a 2017 Albuquerque Isotopes Choice baseball card.
In 1995, Hill married his wife, the daughter of sociologist G. William Domhoff. They have two children. Their son, Glenallen Jr., was drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the fourth round of the 2019 MLB draft. Hill had been married previously.