Rich Hill became the oldest active player in baseball when he started against the Cubs in Chicago on Tuesday night after the Kansas City Royals selected the 45-year-old from Triple-A Omaha.
Hill’s start at Wrigley Field marked the debut of his 21st season in the majors and his first with Kansas City. The Royals are his 14th major league team, matching Edwin Jackson’s record.
Hill became the oldest player to start a major league game since May 27, 2012, when lefty Jamie Moyer tossed his final game with Colorado at age 49.
45-year-old Rich Hill records his first strikeout of the season and throws a scoreless 1st inning
Royals manager Matt Quatraro said there was no pitch-count limitation on Hill, noting the left-hander was “built up” had been in the 90-pitch range at Omaha.
“Well, it speaks to his drive, right?” Quatraro said. “He’s played this game forever and clearly he’s not doing it for the money or being a big leaguer. He’s doing it because he loves it and because he can still be good at it.”
At 45 years and 133 days, Hill became the oldest player in Royals history, passing Hall-of-Fame right-hander Gaylord Perry, who appeared in two games with Kansas City in 1983 after he turned 45.
The 6-foot-5 Hill began his career with the Cubs, making his big-league debut with a one-inning relief appearance against the Florida Marlins on June 15, 2005. He gave up two runs and three hits.
Hill had been at Omaha after signing a minor-league free-agent deal with the Royals in May. He was 4-4 with a 5.36 ERA in nine starts at Omaha.
A Boston native, Hill appeared in four games last season for the Red Sox.
He made 11 postseason starts during his four years with the Los Angeles Dodgers, including two World Series starts in 2017 and another in 2018. He went 11-5 during the latter regular season.
Hill is 90-74 with a 4.01 ERA in 368 career MLB games. He has pitched 1,409 innings and has struck out 1,428.
In corresponding moves, the Royals optioned right-hander Andrew Hoffman to Omaha and designated outfielder Tyler Gentry for assignment.
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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