The Paul Hill Memorabilia Collection

[Tallyman77]

Has anyone ever heard of Paul Hill and his fantastic sports memorabilia collection? I believe he collected only game worn/game used items mostly received straight from the players themselves. I do know in 1994 Sports Collectors Digest had a full page ad of his things being sold by Centerfield Sports Collectibles. (I think that was their name). Can anyone add to this information? I sure would love to have a copy of the ad if at all possible. Thanks!

-Walt

Tallyman77

[DeacDoug]

Yes. He was a big Phillies fan and certainly would have enjoyed the current run. I'm guessing Hill has passed. Might have the old Centerfield advertisement. Will look.

[ironmanfan]

They ran quite a numbr of ads back in 1994/1995......Paul Hill collected back in the day where he would obtain a lot of items by simply showing up @ player's front doors and asking them for memorabilia...I still see some of it around and a good % of the items you'll find are personalized to him....

If you see a nice vintage piece personalized "To Paul.....," it's a good chance it originated from Hill...

[soxbats]

Back in the early 1990s Centerfield had a series of auctions to sell the Paul Hill collection. I think that I have many of the catalogs and SCD pull outs that advertised the collection, but I would have to dig around a bit to locate them all. This was during my 1990s bat advert hoarding period where I clipped all ads for bats, copied them and put them in 3 ring binders. Thankfully, ebay has curbed this habit and I canceled my SCD subscription years ago.

One SCD Ad 5/20/94 states the following about the collection:

"Welcome to the fourth in a series of sixteen equally divided auctions that we will be conducting over the next two years to liquidate one of the country's largest memorabilia collections. Mr. Hill was an avid collector for close to 55 years and is proud of the fact that the majority of the items in his collection were obtained personally. Mr. Hill's collection is inclusive of over 19,000 items which includes over 1,500 game used bats, 400 game worn caps, 250 game worn jerseys, rare stadium pieces and some of the finest cards you have ever set your eyes on."

My recollection is that Hill was trying to collect something from every player who played in the majors. A stunning accumulation of items that, because they principally involved common players, did not have many individual pieces of great value.

I am currently trying to complete a run of red sox bats for non-pitchers from 1960 to the present (444 players as of today) and need only a handful to finish. These auctions have haunted me for years as it was only a year or so after they ran that I created my wantlist. As a result, I missed several common players that I have not seen over the 15-20 years since. A few years ago I looked through the lists and determined that almost all the bats I now need were auctioned off from this collection. I kick myself for not jumping on them, but am heartened by the fact that they do exist. I do have a few bats in my collection with the "To Paul" personalization.

If anyone has any info on Hill or the owners of Centerfield (long since out of business), I would love to try to see if any of the unsold lots are still together.

I am still looking for these players from the 60s and early 70s: Alvarado, Luis; Boone, Ray; Fanzone, Carmen; Goggin, Chuck; Heise, Bobby; Jackson, Ron (1960s); Mantilla, Felix; Poulsen, Ken; Smith, George; and Webster, Ray

soxbats@aol.com

[emwest]

Paul Hill is my uncle and I'm pleased to report that he's well, happily retired with his wife of 60+ years, Rose. When we were young kids, they often visited us in the DC area and he'd take my brothers to see the Senators (giving away my age!). They told great stories of his forays into the locker rooms where the players were always happy to give him something for his collection. And when we visited his home, the basement where the collection lived until he sold it several years ago was "off limits" to us kids unless he personally supervised to make sure we didn't move his carefully arranged collection. I know he's delighted that serious collectors remember him.

[cohibasmoker]

Waaaaaaaaay back in the day, I purchased a cap from Centerfield Collectibles / Paul Hill collection. Somehow, I even managed to save the original receipt - 7/9/95.

Jim

flaa1a@comcast.net

[b.heagy]

A pair of "Harry P-Nuts" Lowrey game used cleats from the Paul Hill Collection.