Appalachian Figures Series – The Story of Dave Hillman of Scott, Virginia
On April 30, 1955, a right handed pitcher from Scott County, Virginia, walked onto a Major League mound for the Chicago Cubs. His name in the record books was Darius Dutton Hillman, but baseball knew him as Dave.
He had been born in Dungannon on September 14, 1927, in a small railroad town tucked into the mountains of southwest Virginia. His path to the major leagues did not run through a college powerhouse, a big city sandlot, or a famous prep program. It began in Dungannon, where he went through the local schools, played baseball and basketball, and grew up in a community tied closely to family, rail work, and mountain life.
By the time his professional career ended in 1962, Hillman had pitched for the Chicago Cubs, Boston Red Sox, Cincinnati Reds, and New York Mets. His major league record does not fully explain his story. The numbers show a pitcher who won 21 games, lost 37, and carried a 3.87 earned run average across 188 major league appearances. The fuller story shows a Scott County athlete who survived a long climb through the minors, bad luck in the majors, injuries, trades, and one of baseball’s strangest expansion seasons.
Dungannon, the Railroad, and a Mountain Childhood
Dungannon was never a large place, but it sat in a world of movement. The Carolina, Clinchfield and Ohio Railway passed through the area, linking the mountains of Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee, and the Carolinas. The Dungannon Depot, built around 1910, later became one of the town’s most important surviving landmarks from the passenger train era.
That railroad world touched Hillman’s family directly. His father, Warren Carmel Hillman, worked as a foreman on the Clinchfield Railway. His mother was Ollie Ruth Peters Hillman. Dave was one of seven children in a family rooted in Scott County.
The documentary trail places him in Dungannon as a child. Census leads name the family in the Floyd District of Scott County in 1930 and 1940. A compiled genealogy, drawing on Virginia birth and census records, gives his full name as Darius Dutton Hillman and places his birth in Scott County on September 14, 1927. The same family record points researchers toward the original Virginia birth record, the 1930 census, and the 1940 census as the strongest evidence for his early life.
For readers of Appalachian history, that matters. Hillman was not only a ballplayer who happened to be born in Virginia. He was a product of a particular mountain community before the postwar years changed the movement of young men from rural Appalachia into military service, factory work, and professional sports.
Dungannon High School and the First Dream
Hillman attended Dungannon schools and graduated from Dungannon High School in 1945. Baseball Almanac later noted him as the first former student from Dungannon High School to play in the major leagues. In school, he played both baseball and basketball, and accounts of his life remember him as captain of the high school basketball team for three years.
That detail helps round out the picture. Before he became a professional pitcher, Hillman was the kind of small town athlete who played whatever the school and the season placed in front of him. Dungannon High was not producing a stream of professional baseball prospects. For a young man there to reach the majors required talent, timing, travel, and a willingness to keep playing long after most classmates had settled into work.
The Second World War also shaped his early adulthood. After graduating in 1945, Hillman entered the United States Air Force. He served until 1947, then returned to civilian life. In August 1947, he married Imogene Turner of Fort Blackmore. The marriage record should be checked against the original image because published sources give slightly different August dates, but both agree that the marriage took place soon after his military service.
For a time, baseball was not yet his full living. Hillman later remembered working and playing ball on weekends. He worked as a parts man in a Chevrolet garage. The dream was still alive, but it had not yet become a profession.
Coeburn, Rock Hill, and the Minor League Climb
Before the major leagues, Hillman played with the Coeburn Blues in the Lonesome Pine semi pro circuit. Family notes remember him as a hard thrower and say that Billy Carico tagged him with the nickname “Fireball Hillman” at Coeburn. Those details come from family and local memory rather than official league records, but they fit the larger story of a pitcher noticed outside the usual baseball centers.
The Chicago Cubs signed him at the end of 1949. Contemporary newspaper citations preserved by SABR identify him as one of several amateur players signed by the Cubs, and SABR credits Cubs scout Tim Murchison with finding him.
Hillman’s first professional stop was the Rock Hill Chiefs in South Carolina. In 1950, he went 14 and 11 with a 2.86 earned run average. In 1951, he became a 20 game winner, finishing 20 and 10 with a 3.13 earned run average. That season also gave him one of the sharpest achievements of his baseball life. On May 28, 1951, in a scheduled seven inning game against Greenville, Hillman retired all 21 batters for a perfect game.
The next years showed how difficult the climb could be. Hillman moved through Des Moines, Springfield, Beaumont, Los Angeles, Portland, and other minor league stops. Some seasons were strong. Others were frustrating. In 1953, with Springfield, he threw a no hitter at Toronto on August 10, winning 5 to 0, but he also finished the season with a losing record. A bruised finger and the death of his mother weighed on that summer.
In 1954, pitching for Beaumont in the Texas League, Hillman went 16 and 11 with a 3.32 earned run average. That season put him in position to make the Cubs roster the next spring.
The Chicago Cubs Years
Hillman made his major league debut for the Chicago Cubs on April 30, 1955, at Ebbets Field against the Brooklyn Dodgers. He entered in relief with the Dodgers already ahead. The inning included a single by Roy Campanella and a two run homer by Jackie Robinson, but Hillman settled down enough to finish the outing.
That first appearance placed a man from Dungannon into the middle of baseball history. He was not facing anonymous players in a quiet setting. He was pitching in Brooklyn, in one of the most famous ballparks in the country, against one of the great teams of the era.
The early major league years did not come easily. Hillman moved between the Cubs and the minors, including time with the Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League. In 1956, he had one of his best professional seasons with Los Angeles, going 21 and 7 with a 3.38 earned run average. That performance brought him back to Chicago.
His first major league win finally came on June 25, 1957, against the Pittsburgh Pirates. He had started his major league career with hard luck, but that day he worked 7 and one third innings in relief and helped the Cubs win 5 to 3.
The next two seasons showed his ability more clearly. In 1958, he went 4 and 8, but his 3.15 earned run average was strong for a pitcher on a fifth place club. In 1959, he made 39 appearances, started 24 games, worked 191 innings, struck out 88 batters, and posted a 3.53 earned run average. Those were career highs in several categories.
The Two Hit Shutout at Forbes Field
The finest major league game of Hillman’s career came on May 6, 1959, at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. The Cubs beat the Pirates 3 to 0. Hillman threw a two hit shutout, walked one, and struck out two. The losing pitcher was Harvey Haddix, who would become famous later that same month for carrying a perfect game into the thirteenth inning against Milwaukee.
Hillman’s shutout was the only one of his major league career. It also came during a season in which he often pitched better than his win loss record suggested. Contemporary coverage and later SABR research both point to his “hard luck” reputation. In several losses, the Cubs gave him little or no run support.
That is one reason Hillman’s career should not be judged only by his 21 and 37 major league record. Baseball is a team game, and pitchers on ordinary clubs often carried losing marks even when they gave their teams a chance to win. Hillman’s 1958 and 1959 seasons show a pitcher who could compete at the major league level, especially when his control was sharp.
A Historic Trade to Boston
After the 1959 season, Hillman became part of a transaction that marked a change in baseball business. On November 21, 1959, the Cubs traded Hillman and Jim Marshall to the Boston Red Sox for Dick Gernert. SABR’s account of the 1959 winter meetings identifies that deal as the first interleague trade under the new window that allowed American League and National League clubs to trade without first passing players through waivers.
For Hillman, the move meant leaving the National League after five seasons with Chicago. For baseball, the trade represented a small but real shift in how teams could build rosters across league lines.
Boston valued his ability to start or relieve, but his Red Sox career was damaged almost before it began. In March 1960, during spring training, Hillman and teammate Marty Keough were injured in an automobile accident. Hillman suffered a head cut and a badly bruised right shoulder. The injury slowed his start with Boston and helped turn 1960 into a frustrating year.
More bad luck followed. Later that season, while bunting against knuckleballer Hoyt Wilhelm, Hillman injured the fingernail on the index finger of his pitching hand and went back to the disabled list.
Relief Work, the Reds, and the Mets
Hillman’s best Boston season came in 1961. Used mostly as a reliever, he went 3 and 2 with a 2.77 earned run average across 78 innings. In April of that year, he earned praise for a long relief appearance against Detroit, and for a while it looked as if he might settle into a useful bullpen role.
Then injury struck again. In August 1961, Hillman was hit by a batted ball and suffered a broken left thumb. His season ended early.
In October 1961, the Red Sox assigned his contract to the Cincinnati Reds on a conditional basis. The Reds used him briefly in April 1962, then returned him to Boston. Before he could settle back into the Red Sox system, the expansion New York Mets purchased his contract.
That placed Hillman on one of the most famous losing teams in baseball history. The 1962 Mets were new, colorful, and deeply unsuccessful. Hillman pitched in 13 games for them and recorded one save, but his major league career ended that season. His final major league appearance came in June 1962.
He had reached the sport’s highest level, lasted parts of eight major league seasons, and worn the uniforms of four franchises. For a pitcher from Dungannon High School, that was no small journey.
A Life in Kingsport
After baseball, Hillman settled into a quieter life in Kingsport, Tennessee. He worked for many years as a clothing salesman with Fuller and Hillman, Inc., a business connected to his family. In later interviews, he described working in the clothing business in the off seasons and then full time after baseball. He retired in 1990.
His life after baseball was long. He remained connected to the region, living in Kingsport and remembered by local sportswriters and baseball historians as a generous link to another era of the game. As the years passed, he also became one of the oldest surviving former players connected to several teams. At the time of his death, he was remembered as the oldest living former New York Met and oldest living former Cincinnati Red.
Dave Hillman died in Kingsport on November 20, 2022, at the age of 95. He was buried at Oak Hill Cemetery in Kingsport.
Remembering Dave Hillman
Dave Hillman’s story belongs in Appalachian history because it begins in a small Scott County town and follows the larger mid twentieth century path of many mountain people. He came from a railroad family, graduated from a local high school, served in the military, worked regular jobs, and kept playing ball until the game carried him far beyond home.
His career had moments that read like footnotes to larger baseball stories. He pitched to Jackie Robinson in his first major league game. He beat Pittsburgh with a two hit shutout in 1959. He was part of the first modern interleague trade window. He joined the original New York Mets during their chaotic first season.
Yet the heart of the story remains simpler. A boy from Dungannon learned the game in the mountains of Scott County, played wherever he could, threw hard enough to be noticed, and made it all the way to the major leagues.
For Dungannon and Scott County, Dave Hillman stands as a reminder that Appalachian sports history is not only the story of famous universities, big stadiums, and championship banners. Sometimes it is the story of a small town pitcher, a railroad family, a high school gym, a semi pro field, and one long road from the Clinchfield line to the major league mound.
Sources & Further Reading
Virginia Department of Health. “Virginia, U.S., Birth Records, 1912–2015, Delayed Birth Records, 1721–1924.” Database. Ancestry. https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/9277
Library of Virginia. “Birth, Marriage, and Death Records, 1853–Present.” Library of Virginia Research Guides. https://lva-virginia.libguides.com/bmd/birth
Virginia Department of Health. “Genealogy.” Virginia Department of Health, Office of Vital Records. https://www.vdh.virginia.gov/vital-records/genealogy/
United States Bureau of the Census. Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930, Dungannon, Floyd District, Scott County, Virginia, household of Carmel W. Hillman. National Archives microfilm publication T626. Accessed through FamilySearch. https://www.familysearch.org/en/search/collection/1810731
United States Bureau of the Census. Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, Dungannon, Floyd District, Scott County, Virginia, household of W. C. Hillman. National Archives microfilm publication T627. Accessed through FamilySearch. https://www.familysearch.org/en/search/collection/2000219
National Archives and Records Administration. “1930 Federal Population Census.” National Archives. https://www.archives.gov/research/census/1930
National Archives and Records Administration. “Search Census Records Online and Other Resources.” National Archives. https://www.archives.gov/research/census/online-resources
Ancestry. “Virginia, U.S., Marriage Records, 1936–2014.” Database. https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/9279
National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum Archives. “Tom Burlin Questionnaire Papers.” ArchivesSpace Public Interface. https://archives.baseballhall.org/repositories/2/resources/167
Hillman, Dave. Player questionnaire. National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Cooperstown, New York. Cited in Bill Nowlin, “Dave Hillman,” Society for American Baseball Research BioProject. https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/dave-hillman/
Hillman, Dave. Interview by Bill Nowlin. April 21, 2017. Cited in Bill Nowlin, “Dave Hillman,” Society for American Baseball Research BioProject. https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/dave-hillman/
Nowlin, Bill. “Dave Hillman.” Society for American Baseball Research BioProject. August 31, 2017. https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/dave-hillman/
Major League Baseball. “Dave Hillman Stats, Age, Position, Height, Weight, Fantasy and News.” MLB.com. https://www.mlb.com/player/dave-hillman-115954
Baseball Reference. “Dave Hillman Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status and More.” Sports Reference. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/hillmda01.shtml
Baseball Reference. “Dave Hillman Minor Leagues Statistics.” Sports Reference. https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=hillma001dar
Baseball Almanac. “Dave Hillman Stats, Height, Weight, Research and History.” Baseball Almanac. https://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=hillmda01
Baseball Almanac. “Dave Hillman Trades and Transactions.” Baseball Almanac. https://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/trades.php?p=hillmda01
Retrosheet. “Player Logs, CSV Files Available for Download.” Retrosheet. https://www.retrosheet.org/downloads/csvplayers.html
Baseball Reference. “Dave Hillman.” BR Bullpen. https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Dave_Hillman
Baseball Prospectus. “Dave Hillman Player Card.” Baseball Prospectus. https://www.baseballprospectus.com/player/23451/dave-hillman/
ESPN. “Dave Hillman Career Stats.” ESPN. https://www.espn.com/mlb/player/stats/_/id/22921/dave-hillman
Trading Card Database. “Dave Hillman Gallery.” Trading Card Database. https://www.tcdb.com/GalleryP.cfm/pid/2628/Dave-Hillman
Metropolitan Museum of Art. “Dave Hillman, Pitcher, Chicago Cubs, from the 1957 Topps Regular Issue Series.” The Met Collection. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/776061
Topps Chewing Gum Company. Dave Hillman, no. 351, 1957 Topps Baseball. Topps, 1957. Object record held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/776061
Associated Press. “Cubs Sign Five for Des Moines.” Daily Illinois State Journal, December 31, 1949, 10. Accessed through Newspapers.com. https://www.newspapers.com/
Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune. Baseball signing item on Dave Hillman and the Chicago Cubs. December 31, 1949. Accessed through Newspapers.com. https://www.newspapers.com/
The Evening Herald. Coverage of Dave Hillman’s seven inning perfect game for Rock Hill against Greenville. Rock Hill, South Carolina, May 29, 1951. Accessed through Newspapers.com. https://www.newspapers.com/
Prell, Edward. “Cubs Beat Orioles, 1-0; Hillman Yields 3 Hits.” Chicago Tribune, April 1, 1958, B1. Accessed through Chicago Tribune Archives. https://www.chicagotribune.com/archives/
Dozer, Richard. “Pirates Rally Twice To Beat Cubs, 7-6; Errors Let In Decisive Run in 7th.” Chicago Tribune, August 18, 1959, B1. Accessed through Chicago Tribune Archives. https://www.chicagotribune.com/archives/
“Cubs Swap 2 For Gernert.” San Antonio Express and News, November 22, 1959, C-7. Accessed through Newspapers.com. https://www.newspapers.com/
Kingsport Times. Article noting the Hillman, Jim Marshall, and Dick Gernert trade as the first completed under the new interleague trade provision. November 25, 1959, 8. Accessed through Newspapers.com. https://www.newspapers.com/
Associated Press. “Keough, Hillman Injured in Crash.” Los Angeles Times, March 11, 1960, C1. Accessed through Los Angeles Times Archives. https://www.latimes.com/archives
New York World-Telegram-Sun. Coverage of Dave Hillman’s 1960 injury period. April 11, 1960. Accessed through Library of Congress and newspaper archive databases. https://www.loc.gov/
Birtwell, Roger. “No Time Like NOW, Richards.” Boston Globe, July 5, 1960, 14. Accessed through Boston Globe Archives. https://www.bostonglobe.com/archives
Associated Press. “Hillman Twirls Brilliantly in Relief As Red Sox Hand Tigers Another Loss.” Hartford Courant, April 28, 1961, 21. Accessed through Hartford Courant Archives. https://www.courant.com/archives/
United Press International. “Reds Purchase Dave Hillman.” Washington Post, October 19, 1961, B17. Accessed through Washington Post Archives. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/
United Press International. “Reds Return Hillman to Boston Red Sox.” Hartford Courant, April 18, 1962, 20. Accessed through Hartford Courant Archives. https://www.courant.com/archives/
Lang, Jack. “Mets, Needing Miracles, Come Up with Straws.” Jersey Journal, April 26, 1962, 19. Accessed through newspaper archive databases. https://www.genealogybank.com/
Bristol Herald Courier. “Former Major League Pitcher Dave Hillman Passes Away at 95.” November 22, 2022. https://heraldcourier.com/obituaries/former-major-league-pitcher-dave-hillman-passes-away-at-95/article_f93e7e6c-69f7-11ed-a316-8f027037aa1c.html
Oak Hill Funeral Home. “Darius ‘Dave’ Hillman Obituary.” Oak Hill Funeral and Cremation Services. https://www.oakhillfh.com/obituaries/Darius-Dave-Hillman?obId=42330373
RIP Baseball. “Obituary: Dave Hillman, 1927–2022.” November 22, 2022. https://ripbaseball.com/2022/11/22/obituary-dave-hillman-1927-2022/
Baseball Happenings. “Dave Hillman, Oldest Living Mets and Reds Player Dies at 95.” November 20, 2022. https://www.baseballhappenings.net/2022/11/dave-hillman-oldest-living-met-and-red.html
New York Post. “Dave Hillman, the Oldest Living Met, Dead at 95.” November 22, 2022. https://nypost.com/2022/11/22/dave-hillman-the-oldest-living-met-dead-at-95/
Bleed Cubbie Blue. “Former Cubs Pitcher Dave Hillman Has Died.” November 21, 2022. https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2022/11/21/23472013/former-cubs-pitcher-dave-hillman-died
Society for American Baseball Research. “1959 Winter Meetings: Winds of Change.” SABR Baseball Research Journal. https://sabr.org/journal/article/1959-winter-meetings-winds-of-change/
White, Gaylon H. The Bilko Athletic Club: The Story of the 1956 Los Angeles Angels. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2014. https://api.pageplace.de/preview/DT0400.9798216214892_A63004333/preview-9798216214892_A63004333.pdf
Beverage, Richard. The Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League: A History, 1903–1957. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2011. https://mcfarlandbooks.com/
Lloyd Johnson, Miles Wolff, and Steve McDonald, eds. The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball. 3rd ed. Durham, NC: Baseball America, 2007. https://www.baseballamerica.com/
Virginia Department of Historic Resources. “Dungannon Depot.” Virginia Landmarks Register and National Register of Historic Places record. https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/historic-registers/213-0001/
Wells, John W. Richard and Susannah Wells: Descendants of Richard Wells. Compiled genealogy. https://wellsancestry.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Elizabeth-Wells-Combined-1.pdf
FamilySearch. “Ollie Ruth Peters, 1894–1953.” FamilySearch Family Tree. https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/L61S-8KV/ollie-ruth-peters-1894-1953
WikiTree. “Darius Dutton Hillman, 1927–2022.” WikiTree. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Hillman-3494
Appalachian Regional Commission. “Virginia.” Appalachian Regional Commission. https://www.arc.gov/appalachian-states/virginia/
Appalachian Regional Commission. “Tennessee.” Appalachian Regional Commission. https://www.arc.gov/appalachian-states/tennessee/
Appalachian Regional Commission. “South Carolina.” Appalachian Regional Commission. https://www.arc.gov/appalachian-states/south-carolina/
Author Note: Dave Hillman’s story is best read as both a baseball story and a Scott County story. I have leaned on primary records, baseball archives, contemporary newspaper accounts, and regional obituary sources so readers can separate documented fact from later memory.