Drafted in the tenth round in 1996 by the Red Sox out of Mesa Community College, Shea Hillenbrand made his MLB debut for Boston in 2001 at the age of 25. In his sophomore season with the Red Sox, Hillenbrand hit .293/.330/.459 with 18 home runs and 83 RBI, starting for the AL All-Star team at third base. He finished 10th in the AL in hits in ’02 and sixth in doubles.
In May of ’03, Hillenbrand was traded to the Diamondbacks for reliever Byung-Hyun Kim. Not long after that, he hit three home runs in a game against the Rockies. Hillenbrand hit .310/.348/.464 with 15 home runs and 80 RBI the following year for the D’Backs, with his batting average ranking 13th in the NL.
Dealt to Toronto after the ’04 season, Hillenbrand hit .291/.343/.449 with 18 home runs and 82 RBI en route to his second All-Star nod. Hillenbrand managed to lead the AL by being hit by a pitch 22 times in ’05 as well. He’d go on to play with the Giants, Angels, and Dodgers.
Hillenbrand wound up with a fine .284 batting average over the course of his career. His 108 home runs included shots off Mike Mussina, Mariano Rivera, Zack Greinke, and Jake Peavy.
Today, we were proud to host a live chat with Shea. Click here to read the transcript! Shea was honest and forthcoming and the chat is well worth reading. And be sure to check out his website, Your All-Star Life, here. Shea is also on Instagram @shea_hillenbrand.
If you’re a former or current MLB player and you’d like to do a one-hour chat on MLBTR, reach out to us through our contact form! It’s a fun and easy hour where you choose which questions to answer, and we’ve had great success with Chipper Jones, Paul Sewald, Chad Cordero, and many others.
Ask him about the time he quit on the team wrote something he shouldn’t have and John Gibbons challenged him to a fight. I miss Gibby.
Gibby was honestly the best
Gibbons was fortunate to be given the the opportunities he received to mange in The Show as he certainly did not earn them – he failed miserably as a leader, manager, mentor & facilitator of major league talent,.
A .500 record with the talent and he was given is the most obvious data point & clearly defines the absence of the necessary functional people skills required to lead professionals to the top.
He did talk about that. I wonder what childhood/adolescent stuff he went through. He referenced it multiple times but didn’t elaborate. I’m always interested in hearing the obstacles people have to overcome in early life.
I respect the guy for owning what he was back then, unlike Gibbons who was a hotheaded unprofessional egomaniac. Challenging one of your own players to a fight, in your clubhouse in front of your whole team? What a chump, and he proved it time and time again. Just ask Ted Lilly.
I’m sure no one asked about the time he called Theo Epstein the F word too
And they wonder why no one frequents this site.
They literally did. People make mistakes, people change, people grow. Maybe you should read the chat before making assumptions.
Yes, and it should also be pointed out that Shea selected that question for the chat. That right there is what they call character.
From the transcript, Hillenbrand said “I do not regret writing “the ship’s sinking and play for yourself” on the whiteboard in the clubhouse”. And then goes on to make a bunch of excuses, pretend it was a joke, and throw Vernon Wells under the bus for it in an absurd way.
That’s what I call continued lack of character. Decades later he’s still disrespecting his ex-teammates and failing to take responsibility for his actions.
It’s telling that Shea cites Barry Bonds as his favorite clubhouse role model and teacher. Although compared to Shea, even Bonds was beloved in the clubhouse.
How did you miss all the parts where he criticized himself and his actions back then? He even called himself the d-word.
I hope Gibbons does the next chat, I’d like to see if he owns his behavior toward Hillenbrand and Lilly among others.
Read the transcript of the chat Monty. It was asked and he commented on that.
He commented on it. He never said why he did it. It might be public knowledge though because I was unaware he was even this controversial of a player until today. I wonder how a guy like him would be valued on the open market today. He always seemed to have solid batting averages but his OPS looked like it was below .800 most seasons.
I guess that makes you a nobody, Monty Nobody.
Who are these “they” that wonder why no one frequents this site? If you do a search I think you’ll find there are about 13mm-15mm of us “no ones” on this site monthly.
These days “they” can mean just one person, so maybe he’s just talking about his Mom or something?
Lol fever. That made me chuckle out loud.
Did you read the transcript, Gomer?
That was really cool. What an interesting chat and obviously much respect to him for owning his actions. He’s a great role model for those struggling with inner demons and shows that it doesn’t matter who you are, it can affect anyone.
Lord knows we all do, write, and say some incredibly stupid things we wish we could take back. But the humility to own that and admit one’s own wrongdoing speaks volumes about the level of maturity he now has.
Glad to read he’s doing so well know and hope he continues on this path in his life.
I’m glad he is in a good place. What an interesting life time dream: to own a zoo!
Most interesting part to me was that Shea named Bonds and Everett as his favorite teammates. Who would have guessed?
On the offensive side Hillenbrand is what the Sox were hoping Will Middlebrooks would be.
On the personal side it sounds like Shea had a lot of internal struggles and good for him that he’s been able to overcome them
Thank you for bringing Shea on to chat. I’m so grateful to hear his story. I hope a lot of players read this and get help if they need it.
Great chat! I did notice he ignored the steroid use question. Sounds like he was buddies with one of the biggest users of the era. Good for him owning up to his past though!
I was surprised they listed it. I submitted it as a separate question.
That was simply the strongest/deepest/heart-felt Chat ever on MLBTR!!!!!!
I used to see cockiness and a bad attitude when Shea played for Boston, though I was disappointed when he got traded. It all makes perfect sense now. I’m so glad to hear he’s committed to overcoming his personal struggles and becoming a happy person. I wonder if any of his teammates/front offices knew the struggles he was going through and offered to get him help. I’m guessing he did all he could to hide this from everyone but all of the signs were certainly there. I hope he does help current and future players who have similar struggles and let them know it’s okay to ask for help. Shea could have been an even better player than he was had he asked for help and had a team willing to offer him support. I’m glad to hear he’s open to helping others with similar issues; that’s a true man right there!
Yes agree!
No interest in what this homophobic bigot had to say.
He actually expressed remorse when someone asked about it. Seems like he’s made some significant changes in his life, but I didn’t know anything about him before this chat and a few brief google searches on the controversies
I don’t think that counted as remorse.
Q: You regret calling someone a f**?
A: can’t live with regrets. There are some things I shouldn’t have said.
No remorse, no regret, no saying he learned from it. Just bitter he said the quiet part loud.
He’s remorseful. He didn’t use those words, but he is.
No sarcasm- I hope you’re right. Seems like you know him a bit so I’ll take your word.
But the answer was somewhat disappointing. Maybe it just didn’t come out the way he intended.
Let me ask you this. Would you rather see him take the easier questions that were probably presented to him like, “Where was your favorite stadium to play” or “What was your favorite road restaurant” or address many of the harder and more direct questions? Because he could have brushed by it and pushed on with easy. Did he miss answering any of the controversial things he did? I don’t know, but he addressed a ton of them.
Very good point. I do have to give him credit for that. It is hard to have the perfect answer ready. You’re right.
Taking a step back, I’m surprised he did.
I appreciate your comments. I’m just a guy that loves baseball. It’s actually pretty cool that for whatever reason this chat is forcing us to step outside of baseball and to look at things like mental health, the words we choose, our actions, etc.
As someone with a gay daughter I have had to reconsider my thoughts and words. I have a long way to go. I still have to stop and tell myself to just love her for the amazing woman she is. That those old thoughts I have don’t matter. That I need to manage myself. I get that his choice of words back in the day were bad, I have some of those in my history too. Like you I hope there’s a lot more depth in what he said than what we saw.
Talking – His choice of words was quite common back then. Whenever someone wanted to insult a guy, they would often do so by questioning his manhood and masculinity. It was wrong and I’d never condone it, but he was far from the only player to use that language … the same language that was included in at least one popular hit song (Money For Nothing) and the same type of language that was regularly used in a hugely popular comic strip (Calvin & Hobbes).
I appreciate you sharing all that man. It helps me understand where you are coming from and your relationship to it.
We all have learned and grown from back in the day. I’m there with you man.
That’s basically what I had hoped to hear in that chat. Would have hoped there was some reflection and understanding on how he thinks and relates to people and the use of that kind of language.
It was disappointing how he phrased it, but I agree it was interesting that he chose to address it at all. Hoping his heart is in the right place.
So just never forgive anyone? That was over a decade ago.
Go away, Monty. You bring nothing of value to this site.
You’re a hero and will receive your medal in the mail shortly.
Sarcasm alert!
Honestly sounds like he turned his life around and found God. That will change a person and one’s outlook on how one treats others or views them. He was obviously going through some very dark stuff for a long time. At one point he referenced hating himself at 14 years old. That’s not healthy, man. Guy obviously had issues. I’m glad for him that he’s overcome them.
Shea is a helluva guy and more people will start to see that. To see this guy blossom is a sight, check out some of his videos on Facebook. The guy is fire. It didn’t come through in text, but you still felt that passion and fire to a degree. None of us should be held up to something over a decade old that we address and own as wrong.
hEs a bIgOT
Reeeeee
Emotionally unstable people like yourself should avoid areas like this where you can be triggered so easily.
When we were young and ignorant hanging out with the guys we said things that probably most of us would be embarrassed about today. We said derogatory things about guys, we said things about girls that were probably definitely shameful. But we outgrow it. We mature. We are not defined by the dumb things we said when we were young, angry, and stupid.
@Monty – Read the chat. Shea had something terrible happen to him as a child that really scarred him and it almost led to his death later in life. He was self-medicating with drugs and alcohol, which is a tell-tale sign of experiencing some sort of abuse or personal traumatic event. Back in those days, that type of stuff was buried versus openly discussed and treated so its hard to blame Shea for the person he became as a teenager and young adult. The poor kid woke up every day hating himself. Thankfully, he was finally able to ask for and get the help he needed and he has turned his life around. He seems happy with the person he has become, he’s remorseful for his actions when he was struggling with his internal demons and most importantly, he is using his personal experiences and the poor decisions he made when he was younger to help other people who are struggling with similar issues. I’m certainly willing to forgive his past indiscretions and hatred of others knowing what I know now. I was not expecting any of this when I jumped into the chat but that was one of the most moving and inspirational pieces I have ever read on this site. The fact you are not willing to read the chat and understand why he was the way he was as a player says a lot about you my friend. I too thought Shea was a punk as a player and as a person but after reading this, I have more respect for him than most players in the league right now. It takes a real man to endure what he did and turn his life around. I highly suggest you read his chat responses; your entire opinion of him will change after doing so.
Thank you Tim for bringing Shea to our chat room and THANk YOU Shea for really bringing your authentic self to this forum!! What a rare and genuine treat to get a window inside the challenges of being a player. Thank you!!
What a great chat! It’s really great to hear that he has battled his inner demons and appears to have come out on the other side. Also great to hear he is helping others with similar problems. Thanks for this chat MLBTR.
Shea could have gone on for hours. This chat was absolutely a blast. We need to get him in on MLBTR and responding to these comments! Keep the ball rolling!
Hillenbrand was the Red Sox 25th ranked prospect going into the 2001 season. Of the top 30 after Hillenbrand only Casey Fossum, Sun-Woo Kim, Manny Delcarman, and Freddy Sanchez had any real MLB success and all but Delcarman were with other organizations
Any player like David Ortiz or Jon Lester can make the Hall of Fame, but only the elites do a Q & A chat with mlbtraderumors
Hey, imagine if he just juiced up like Ortiz? He could’ve been a HOFer AND done a chat here!
that was crazy. i was still young and an all NE area fan (so BOS) back then. thought shea was an all hustle, gamer, going to be around a decade type. but i was also 14. now i realize how crazy those real life struggles can be
Interesting read. Hopefully Shea can stay in a good zone the rest of his life.
Wow. I was pretty moved by his words. Lots of regret and pain. It made me appreciate what I have and how I can deal with my own painful events.
Seriously, these are the best things to come out of MLBTR during this insane lockout.
Its really sad we dont shine a spotlight more on mental illness and struggles.
One can only hope that everyone like Shea has a turning point. I know I did. Two close friends did not make it. Even if Shea helps one person, his life is a victory. I can say that when someone tells you that you helped them, it is humbling. I’m happy to hear Shea’s story, gives us all hope.
I think he spent a lot of time peddling a woe is me story because his current business is preying on other peoples sadness. I think he’s pretty bitter. Also didn’t like his answer regarding using a homophobic slur.
No regrets, just saying he shouldn’t of said it out loud.
What’s his current business that’s preying on other people’s sadness? I missed that part.
Preying on other people’s sadness? Do you mean, like a therapist, psychiatrist or other mental health professionals? Don’t all of them require somebody to be “sick” in order to help?
And how you got that he was “bitter” is beyond me. What I read was a man who laid it all out there. He talked about his personal demons. Issues he had since childhood. He talked about how he was disruptive to his teammates and organizations and people close to him. He talked about how his head wasn’t in the right place. He did not, not one time, place the blame anywhere else but with himself. Seems like a standup dude to me.
A guy is seriously considering suicide, on a constant basis, and pulls himself out of that tailspin to become a positive influence in the lives of others. And all you want to do is focus on a regrettable statement made 15 years ago?
It must be really, really nice to be so perfect. Wish we could all focus on extending mercy and compassion instead of focusing exclusively on the past.
Therapists, psychiatrists and psychologists are mental health professionals. Shea is a former baseball player. I’m not sure that qualifies him to help “sick” people as you put it.
There is a cottage industry of “successful” people selling their secrets to turn your life around. I’m naturally skeptical.
Shea is far from bitter. In fact, exactly the opposite.
Again, no sarcasm- I hope you’re right. Maybe bitter was the wrong choice of word. Kinda felt like a sales pitch for his all-star program.
Well I wasn’t expecting that. Gutsy effort. Thanks.
The black dog doesn’t discriminate.
My parents bought his boat from him a long while ago and then years later he bought a puppy from my parents.
I’d love for him to sit down for an in-depth, no-holds-barred interview with a widely respected sports columnist and give more details about his childhood, his baseball life, and that business of his, “Your All-Star Life”. It sounds like he wouldn’t shy-away from something like that.
As a one-time Giant (and teammate of Barry Bonds) maybe he could get together with The Athletic’s Andrew Baggarly, for instance.
goob- Yes!…. – I concur . Shea’s honesty & passion would provide an insightful experience. – Provide the “respected” columnist had a rare combination of character, experience & moral courage. and zero investment or interest in tabloid journalism..
Indeed Franklin, and although I don’t think those qualifications are necessarily all that rare (they’re not universal, of course), Baggarly checks all those boxes, plus a couple more. He’s highly intelligent (he could write about a lot of things), he’s empathetic, and has a great sense of humor – the type that has no problem laughing at his own failings.
Thank God I found what I was searching for then. Fulfillment. I’m excited for life!!
So I let go…Don’t know if I died or fell asleep. By the grace of God I woke up the next day and I made a commitment to myself to design a new life.
Being ONE BREATH AWAY from losing my life to being back on top again. I’m so happy. I’m fulfilled and I’m HUNGRY to use my voice to impact and add value to as many people in the world as I can!! I’m grateful and blessed to be here.
—————————————————————-
It’s what happens when you surrender your own life to God regardless of what condition you’re in. He comes in, rescues you, gives you a new identity & fills you with His Life.
Blessings on you Shea Hillenbrand & thank you for your testimony.
Dude layed himself for public consumption and more than a few of you keyboarders decide to eviscerate him….? Wow, not lobbying for a P.I. but wow WTF….. How many of you keyboard warriors have much more to confess…………? BRING BACK THE DOWNVOTE…..
I agree poet. The downvote was the best.
Thank you Shea!!
Shea, loved you as a Sox player, thanks for your openness, peace and joy bro
It needs to be emphasized that Shea isn’t an MLBTR reader at all. After a friend of his recommended doing a chat, he obviously reached out to this site to make a difference and to show others how common inner demons are.
Gruß,
BSHH
Gibby wasn’t a very good manager period.
I’m glad I read the interview because it’s always good to hear someone gain self awareness and become a better person.
Good on you Shea.