TTM Stats
- Sent: 10/17/2020 | Received: 11/4/2020 | 17 Days
- ’73 Topps, ’74 Topps, ’78 Topps, ’79 Topps
- Address: Home (address from Sports Card Forum)
The Story of the Autograph
John Hiller is a former left-handed relief pitcher and closer in the major leagues. His fifteen year career spanned from 1965 to 1980 and he played his entire career with the Detroit Tigers.
Hiller is a native of Canada. He played hockey and ran track in addition to playing baseball. The Tigers signed him as an amateur free agent in June of 1962 and he would make his first major league appearance on September 6, 1965. In his first two years he would only make six appearances and be up and down from the minors. But his started to become a bigger part of the ball club in 1967.
In 1968 he started the most games in his career with twelve of his 39 appearances being starts. He pitched to a 9-6 record with a 2.39 ERA for a team that would ultimately be the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series. He pitched twice in the Series with one of those being a success and one not as his 13.50 ERA in two innings over two appearances might suggest.
In January of 1971 he had a heart attack at the age of 27. He would end up missing the entire 1971 season but came back in 1972. He quit smoking, changed his diet and lost a tone of weight. He would work his way back to become the Tigers closer in 1973 and lead the majors in saves with 38 in an AL leading 65 appearances.
In 1974 he made his one and only All-Star team. Without any starts he pitched to a 17-14 record and a 2.64 ERA in 59 appearances with 13 saves.
Hiller is a member of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.
The Score on John Hiller – 5.0
I have a few old Tigers in my collection now so it was nice to add these from John. I especially love the 1973 and 1974 cards because of how his career was going during that time. He’d got a bit of a “scratchy” signature, but you can tell it’s his name.
Thanks Mr. Hiller! I’m giving this return a 5.
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Information gathered using Wikipedia and Baseball Reference.