Sam Hinds

Sam Hinds was a real-life globetrotter. He was born in Maryland, spent much of his childhood in Florida, attended high school in La Jolla, California, and graduated from an international high school in The Netherlands. After graduation, he was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 35^th round of the 1971 MLB Amateur Draft but elected not to sign. He attended Broward Community College in Fort Lauderdale, Florida for two years and was later signed by the Brewers in 1974 as an undrafted free agent.

Samuel Russell Hinds was born in 1953 in Frederick, Maryland. His father took a government job in The Netherlands and Sam flourished in sports, winning team European titles in basketball and baseball in 1970-71. In 1974 he was signed by Brewers scouting director Jim Baumer.

Hinds, a 6-foot-6 righthanded pitcher, was assigned to Single-A Danville in the Midwest League in 1974. Hinds won nine games and helped the Warriors to the Midwest League crown. Hinds spent the next two years at Double-A (Thetford Mines and Berkshire) before moving to Triple-A Spokane in 1977.

He was called up to Milwaukee and made his big-league debut on May 21 against the Boston Red Sox. He replaced Moose Haas in the second inning and pitched well, going 5.1 innings while allowing five hits, two runs, and two walks and striking out three. Hinds collected his first save in mid-June in a 6-2 win over Baltimore and earned his second and final save two months later in a 7-5 win over Toronto. Hinds did not earn a big-league win. He posted an ERA+ of 87 and a FIP of 4.11 in 29 games (one start). He did not fare well in his only big-league start, getting knocked out in the third inning by the Red Sox in a late-July game.

Hinds pitched for the final time in the bigs on September 4. He pitched for Spokane in 1978 and was bumped down to Double-A Holyoke in 1979, where he made 19 starts and won his final six games. Hinds was released by the Brewers prior to the 1980 campaign.

Hinds passed away on September 19, 2019 in Hanford, California.