For Pete's sake, Hill family seeks truth

From the Pittsburgh Tribune Review-

Ron Hill showed little interest in his family tree, at least not until learning his great uncle was a former Negro Leagues star inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in July 2006.

Pete Hill of Homewood, who died more than a half-century ago, entered the Cooperstown, N.Y., museum with little fanfare and no family present — and with a glaring error that his descendants are determined to correct.

Recent research has revealed the Hall of Fame plaque honoring their uncle bears the wrong first name. Hill, who played under the nickname Pete, is identified as Joseph Preston Hill instead of John Preston Hill, a mistake that could be unprecedented in a museum that honors the hall's 291 members.

The discovery of his Hall of Fame relative has revitalized Ron Hill, a retired major at the Allegheny County Jail who hasn't been the same since his 23-year-old son — coincidentally, named Joseph Hill — was killed in 2004.

"Ever since my son died, I've been standoffish," said Hill, 62, of Penn Hills. "Since this came up, it gave me a new outlook. I have a relative who is forgotten and no one to speak for him, so I'm speaking for him."

Ron Hill has made rectifying the error in his uncle's plaque a passion project. Pete Hill blazed a trail for Negro Leagues greats despite coming from a family only a generation removed from slavery, and Hill sees his great uncle as representative of the American dream.

Pete Hill starred for the Pittsburgh Keystones at the turn of the 20th century, is called "the catalyst and captain of the great Chicago American Giants clubs of the 1910s" on his Hall of Fame plaque and was described as "the greatest hitter in black baseball history" by baseball historian Phil Dixon.

His descendants, however, knew of their great uncle only as John Hill.

"His family didn't know who this 'Joseph' was, and he has a lot of family," said Pete Hill's great niece, Leslie Penn, 65, a Peabody High graduate who lives in Los Angeles. "The family history is a passion for me. Pete Hill is an obsession for my cousin Ron Hill."

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