Is The Hill based on a true story?
Briarcliffe EntertainmentThe Hill, a sports drama starring Dennis Quaid, has appeared on the Netflix top 10 chart – but is it based on a true story?
Some of the greatest sports movies in history are based on extraordinary true stories: Raging Bull, one of Martin Scorsese’s earliest masterpieces, chronicles the rise and fall of boxer Jake LaMotta; Miracle, starring Kurt Russell as Herb Brooks, showed how America conquered the Soviets at ice hockey; and Moneyball explored how baseball and “the art of winning” was revolutionized with mathematics.
When it comes to Dennis Quaid, you may have a bit of deja vu – that’s likely because you’re thinking of The Rookie. In 2002, Quaid played Jim Morris, a pitcher who made his strike-out Major League Baseball debut at the age of 35.
The Hill was originally released in 2023 with a quiet theatrical drop in US cinemas. It’s just hit Netflix, and you may be keen to know if it’s also based on real events.
Is The Hill based on a true story?
Yes, The Hill is based on the true story of Rickey Hill, a baseball player who defied the odds to become “one of the greatest hitters the game has ever seen.”
Hill (played by Colin Ford) was born with a degenerative spinal disease that jeopardized his chances of walking, never mind playing baseball. “My legs when I was born were wrapped around one another, which created one problem, and then the other problem went on up to my back and my spine where I was born with very little disc,” he explained on the Becoming Outlaws Podcast.
“My grandmother and my great-grandmother were in wheelchairs at age, I think it was 38 and 42.”
He was forced to endure several surgeries in the first four years of his life, after which he had to wear leg braces. Yet, he still spent 16 hours a day hitting rocks with a stick, which fuelled his dreams of becoming a professional baseball player. At the age of 8, he took off his leg braces and realized he didn’t need them.
Hill was the son of a traveling pastor, James Hill (played by Quaid), who feared for his son’s health and dignity when he played baseball. “I had to let [my father] know that I wanted to make my own choice of what I wanted to do with my life, whether I wanted to be in the ministry or if I wanted to play baseball. And he actually understood, and we kinda came to terms that way,” he told Risen Magazine.
After he was discovered by Red Murff, who described Hill as “the best pure hitting prospect he’s ever seen”, he was later signed by the Montreal Expos at the age of 19. His minor league career came to an end after just four seasons, as the toll became too much on his body – but he never once wore his leg braces.
“There is no such thing as no in my book. I hope (people watching this) take the fact that even though they told me my disease was going to end me, I wasn’t going to accept that. I said I’m not accepting no, and I didn’t. I said I would play (pro ball) until every tire went flat,” he told The Athletic.
Hill is now 67 years old, with nine screws, a 14-inch rod, and six cages in his back, which allow him to walk normally and even throw a few baseballs. He believes he could have been a major league player if it wasn’t for his condition.
