Hill Can Add First Base to His Fielding Resume

Your left-handed hitting first baseman has a bum knee, all your backup first basemen hit right-handed, but you want to get another left-handed bat in the lineup.

Who ‘ya gonna call?

Donnie “Dial-A-Glove” Hill, who else?

With regular first baseman Wally Joyner missing his second consecutive game because of patella tendinitis in his right knee Friday night, Angel Manager Doug Rader turned to Hill, the switch-hitting infielder who has taken the term “utility man” to new heights this season.

In his previous three games alone, Hill, the former Edison High School and Orange Coast College infielder, had started at second base and third base, and even pitched a scoreless inning during the Angels’ 20-7 loss Sunday to the Milwaukee Brewers.

Hill told Rader before the Angels’ game against the Toronto Blue Jays that he was up to the task, but there was one little problem. Well, a big problem. Hill didn’t have a first baseman’s mitt, that over-sized lump of leather that is required in that corner of the infield.

So he borrowed catcher/backup first baseman Lance Parrish’s new mitt, which hadn’t even been used in a game.

Hill broke it in rather nicely, recording 12 putouts and starting an inning-ending double play in the seventh to help the Angels defeat the Blue Jays, 2-0, in front of 35,001 in Anaheim Stadium.

“I never dreamed I’d pitch in a game or play first base all in the same week,” said Hill, who has played every infield position but catcher this season.

Neither could Parrish.

“I bet you never thought you’d see someone borrow my first baseman’s mitt,” he said. “I just got it and I haven’t even used it. A guy like Donnie is always valuable, because if someone is injured, he can play anywhere. And before the year’s over, you might see him play everywhere.”

Hill, who also had one of the Angels’ four hits, relied on defensive instincts Friday night. That’s how he was able to turn Fred McGriff’s one-hop smash into a 3-6-3 double play in the seventh inning.

Hill was holding George Bell on at first and, as pitcher Jim Abbott delivered, Hill was moving toward the plate. So about all he could do on the grounder was react.

Looking like a veteran first baseman, Hill caught the ball, fired to shortstop Dick Schofield and got back to first in time to catch Schofield’s relay.

“That play happened so fast,” said Hill, who had never played first in the major leagues but said he saw some action there in the minors. “Shoot, it seemed like McGriff was about 10 feet away from me when he hit it. But it (making the play at first) wasn’t that big of a deal. You still have to catch the ball and throw it.”

Throwing it to Hill, who is 5-foot-10, compared to Joyner’s 6-2 frame, was unusual for Angel infielders.

“I looked over there in the first inning and he looked like a midget compared to Wally,” Schofield said. “But he did a good job.”

Most of Hill’s plays, outside of the double play, were routine except for a putout in the eighth inning, when Hill dug out Schofield’s low throw on Manny Lee’s grounder.

“The first baseman’s mitt felt good, but it was the strangest thing when I caught that low ball from Dick,” Hill said. “The webbing in the mitt is so long, it didn’t even feel like the ball had hit the mitt.”

Hill also made a nice stretch in the ninth to keep Toronto leadoff batter Kenny Williams off base. With one out, Williams hit a grounder that bounced off Abbott’s glove and to the left of the mound. Abbott retrieved the ball, turned and fired to Hill just in time to catch a diving Williams. Tony Fernandez then grounded out to end the game.

“What makes him so terrific to have on the team is that he’s so adaptable,” Rader said. “A lot of players need to be put in their own little niche, but he’s a very willing kid.”

Willing and able.