Hilton, who was picked first overall in the January amateur draft back in 1871 after coming out of Rice University, appeared in four games for San Diego in 1975, going hitless in eight at-bats.
He only played parts of four seasons in the Big Leagues, spanning 1972 through 1975, never living up to that early promise coming out of College.
He’d go on to play another four years of professional ball through the 1981 season but never get the call back up, retiring by the age of 30.
It’s also worth mentioning that in 1977, two years after his last MLB action, Hilton was given a spot in Topps’ baseball card set airbrushed into a Toronto Blue Jays uni after being purchased by the new franchise along with Dave Roberts and John Scott, yet never playing for them.
Just part of the madness that was expansion for Topps that year!
All told, Hilton finished his Big League career with a career .213 batting average over 161 games and 506 at-bats, with 108 hits, 40 runs scored and 33 runs batted in.
