Brita Meng Outzen/Boston Red Sox
Caitlin Hill is the wife of MLB pitcher Rich Hill, who is currently a free agent. Caitlin McClellan Hill, and Rich Hill are both Massachusetts natives. They have a son, Brice, together.
On Saturday, December 21, Caitlin and Rich Hill were both arrested at the New England Patriots game against the Buffalo Bills. The arrests happened outside of Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, the Boston Globe reports. According to the Globe, the incident started when Caitlin Hill tried to enter the stadium with an oversized bag. She was repeatedly told she could not bring it into the stadium, but tried to do so at multiple entrances, police told the newspaper. When she refused to leave the stadium grounds, she was arrested on charges of disorderly conduct and trespassing, the newspaper reports.
Rich Hill then saw his wife being taken to a prison transport van to be taken to the police station for booking and tried to intervene. Hill was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting, a felony, police said. “He saw her as they were trying to get her into a van to bring to the police station, and he started to interfere with the officers. He was told several times to back up and he would not. And he ended up getting arrested,” Foxborough Police chief administrator Robert Bolger told the Globe.
The couple was arraigned on Monday at Wrentham District Court and both had their charges reduced to infractions. The felony charge against Hill was dismissed by prosecutors, the Globe reports. They were both ordered to pay $500 in fines. The Hills have not commented about the incident.
Here is what you need to know about Caitlin Hill:
1. Caitlin McClellan Hill Attended Milton High School Where She Met Rich
Both Caitlin, 37, and Rich, 39, grew up in Massachusetts. The two attended Milton High School and met when Rich was a sophomore and Caitlin was a freshman.
The couple is still very deep-rooted in their home state, and while they spend a good part of the year in California, they had been planning on building a home in Milton, so that they could be close to their families on holidays and during the off-season.
Milton is a town in Norfolk County that sits about 10 miles outside the city of Boston.
Rich Hill has pitched most recently for the Los Angeles Dodgers, but has also pitched for his hometown Boston Red Sox, along with the Chicago Cubs, Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Indians, Los Angeles Angels, New York Yankees and Oakland Athletics.
Hill is set to receive the 2019 Tony Conigliaro Award, given to a “major leaguer who has overcome adversity through the attributes of spirit, determination, and courage that were trademarks of Tony C.,” the Red Sox outfielder whose career and life were cut short after he was hit in the head by a baseball in 1967. The award is given annually at the Boston Baseball Writers Dinner, which is scheduled for January 16, 2020.
2. Caitlin McClellan Hill Married Rich on November 11, 2007
Caitlin and Rich Hill said their “I do’s” in Massachusetts, obtaining a marriage license from the First Circuit Executive Court in Boston. The two enjoyed a fall wedding on November 11, 2007, and exchanged their vows in front of family and friends.
The two settled down in South Boston and Hill played for the Boston Red Sox from 2010 through 2015. He was traded to Oakland in 2016 before inking a deal with Los Angeles and moving his family to the west coast later that same year.
In an interview from earlier this year, Rich Hill talked about his career and referred to it as “our career,” including his wife, who is a very big part of his life.
“There’s a couple points in our career — and I say our career because my wife has been there every step of the way, and it’s been an incredible journey. And when we talk about perseverance it’s really just, you know, not trying to be perfect as we’re going through this life. Because when we look back on the journey it is … it’s a mess,” Rich Hill told WBUR in January.
3. Caitlin Hill Has 1 Son Named Brice & Lost Another Son Before He Turned 2 Months Old
When you’re proud of your dad. 😍 #WeLoveLA
In 2011, the Hills became parents. Their son Brice was born on October 7. Two years later, the couple found out that they were expecting again. Their son, Brooks, was born on December 26, 2013. However, Brooks was born with several health issues.
“As the days and the weeks unfolded, we found out that he had lissencephaly, which is a smoothness of the brain and polymicrogyri[a] in the back of the brain where his neurons didn’t fully form to where they should have connected in his brain, and also congenital nephrotic syndrome, where his kidneys were failing when he was born, right from day one. So that was, when we found that out, that was extremely difficult,” Rich Hill told WBUR.
Brooks ended up passing away before he was two months old.
“We had a son on Dec. 26, and he was born with multiple issues that we confronted and had to deal with as we were moving through the last couple of months at Mass General. Unfortunately, he succumbed and he has passed. He taught us a lot of things, and unfortunately, things didn’t work out. My wife has been extremely strong. Our son, who is 2½, is with us here down in Florida, so we are going to enjoy our time here and obviously make the most of the opportunity that’s here to present itself to play baseball,” Rich Hill said in a statement back in March 2014.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the couple has plans to set up a few scholarships in honor of their late son.
In February 2019, the Hills donated $575,000 to the Massachusetts General Hospital for Children for research on rare and undiagnosed genetic diseases. They also launched the “Field of Genes” initiative, which has raised nearly $1 million in 2019.
4. Caitlin Hill Was Also an Athlete in School
Caitlin understands the game of baseball in a different way because she has first-hand experience when it comes to playing. She was an athlete in high school (and likely in college, though that cannot be confirmed). According to the Los Angeles Times, Caitlin was a softball player. Over the years, she has been able to help her husband through some of the tough times in his career and she’d even play catcher every now and again so that he could practice.
“When you’re wintering in Massachusetts, the search for a space to throw is a logistical puzzle. Obsessive about his routine, Hill had thrown against walls and asked Caitlin, a former softball player, to be his partner,” the Los Angeles Times reported.
Caitlin has been a huge support system for her husband over the years and has been his rock through some of the toughest times. Hill recalled confiding in his wife after a back injury had him sidelined.
“I feel like I can start again,” he would tell her.
5. Caitlin Hill Is a Nurse & a Full-Time Mom
Although not too much is known about Caitlin Hill, several outlets confirm that she has a degree in nursing. It is unknown whether or not Caitlin is currently working as a nurse. She is a full-time mom, dedicated to raising the couple’s 6-year-old son.
“We made the decision to live for Brooks, so, and with our son, Brice, and keeping Brooks’ memory alive not only for us and everyone else but also for him, so he understands that he had a brother. He had a brother and he has a brother. He’ll always bring up baby Brooks, and he’ll mention he knows that he’s in heaven, and if he finds a feather, he always thinks, he says baby Brooks is leaving him little messages and stuff like that. He may not be with us physically, but we believe that he’s with us every single day,” Rich Hill told WBUR.
Brice gets to go to quite a few baseball games to watch his dad play and it looks like he enjoys the game. Check out the clip below that Caitlin posted last year.
According to the Boston Globe, Caitlin brought Brice to watch his dad play in the World Series when Rich Hill got the start in Game 2 in 2018.
Former Heavy contribute Effie Orfanides contributed to this report.
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Caitlin Hill, Rich’s Wife: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know