Rickey Hill knew he was born to be a baseball player. It didn’t matter that his family didn’t have money for a baseball so he spent his days hitting rocks to perfect his swing. It didn’t matter that his father was against him playing and wanted him to follow in his footsteps to become a Baptist minister. And it didn’t even matter that a degenerative spinal disease made pain, bullying, and leg braces a part of his daily life.
Mr. Hill’s determination, perseverance and God-given talent was ultimately enough, and the former professional baseball player’s story is now the subject of a new faith film out August 25 called “The Hill.”
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“I had too much talent in baseball to just let that go and throw it to the side and act like it didn’t exist,” Mr. Hill told The Washington Times. “It made me stronger, having all these problems… It made me very strong in church, it made me very strong in baseball. The love of both of them made me a tough, tough kid.”
But first, the former Montreal Expos slugger had to convince his dad, played by Dennis Quaid in the film, that baseball was worth the pain and struggle.
“My dad came to me and said, ‘Son you need to make a choice. Which one is it going to be? Is it going to be God, your heavenly Father, or is it going to be baseball?’” Mr. Hill recalled. “The next day I came to him and said, ‘Dad I choose both…’ I just told him I could minister through baseball and believe it or not, he liked it.”
That unbending resolve is a big part of what attracted director Jeff Celentano to Mr. Hill’s story more than 20 years ago.
“It’s something that always appeals to me when I see somebody doing the impossible and let nothing get in their way, they [don’t] take no for an answer,” Mr. Celentano explained. “This little boy had this incredible spirit and he always smiled and always laughed through every tragedy he had.”
“And that’s what attracted me to the movie because I thought this is a movie about a kid who has nothing,” he continued. “All he wants to do is play baseball, his father won’t permit him to play baseball, because he has this situation with his legs where he can’t run or do anything and his dad is trying to protect him from the cruel world, and believe me, when Rickey got out there he realized it was a cruel world and went through a lot of hardships to get where he was.”
Mr. Hill is now 64 and his professional baseball days are long behind him, but his story remains an inspiration for all to pursue their dreams. In fact, Mr. Celentano believes “The Hill” will “touch people’s hearts,” admitting that he still “cr[ies] his eyes out” every time he watches the film.
“I hope that people go see this movie at a time in the world today when people are feeling like they need some kind of hope in their lives… and [discover] there’s a better life on the other side if they just believe in themselves,” Mr. Celentano said.
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Marissa Mayer is a writer and editor with more than 10 years of professional experience. Her work has been featured in Christian Post, The Daily Signal, and Intellectual Takeout. Mayer has a B.A. in English with an emphasis in Creative Writing from Arizona State University.
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