Rich Hill Asks You Not To Call His Year A 'Comeback'

Milton, Mass.'s Rich Hill (AP Photo)

In December of 1983, boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard said this about his latest return to the ring, "It's not a comeback. I am back." Now, Red Sox starter Rich Hill seems to me channeling the former middleweight champ. In an article on Derek Jeter's website The Players' Tribune ("Don’t Call It a Comeback"), Hill believes emphatically that his return to starter status is the result of hard work and desire. He states, "I appreciate how excited people have been about the way I’ve pitched, and my story. But I don’t consider it a comeback, really. Maybe as a starter, but not a comeback to baseball. Sometimes I hear the question posed to me, like I was out of the game for six years or so, and that’s obviously not the case. I had been in the Majors as a reliever. Sometimes things get lost in translation, though. Honestly, I think the real challenge was coming back as a reliever when injury derailed my career as a starter. I had to find a new way back to the big leagues." It's an interesting and thoughtful article, and worth a read.