May 8, 2010
Photo Gallery - Trey Hillman #1 Jersey Retirement Ceremony 
By Josh Bowe for utamavs.com
ARLINGTON, Texas - Trey Hillman's career has taken him down a lot of roads.
He's gone from Cleveland to Carolina. Florida to New York. He even crossed the Pacific Ocean to Japan.
But Saturday afternoon at Clay Gould Ballpark in Arlington, Hillman was at place all too familiar - he was home.
"It's humbling," Hillman said. "I'll take the honor and I appreciate what I've done for the program and what the University has done for me."
The current manager of the Kansas City Royals, Hillman returned to his hometown to see his number one jersey retired in front of friends, family and former players and coaches.
Among those in attendance and honored were Hillman's coaches in Kansas City, Dave Owen and Steve Foster. Owen was the first Major League Maverick and Foster the school's first pitcher in the MLB. Owen serves as the third base coach while Foster is the bullpen coach.
"We get ragged a lot for that," Hillman said with a smile. "Dave's been stuck with me for the last four years. We've got three Texans in the dugout."
Hillman owns quite a few hitting records at UT Arlington to say the least during his tenure from 1982-1985. His .442 batting average in 1985 led the Southland Conference and is the single-season record at UTA.
He also became the first baseball player inducted into the UTA Hall of Honor in 1992. Hillman is also the only three-time first-team All Southland Conference selection in UTA history (1983-85).
Hillman spent five seasons in Japan after coaching in the Minor Leagues, winning a Japan Series title with the Nippon-Ham Fighters in 2006. On October 19, 2007, Hillman became the 15th manager of the Kansas City Royals.
The journey has been long, strenuous and most importantly for Hillman, rewarding.
"From that standpoint it was tough," Hillman said of being away from family and friends in Japan. "It was great after games. I couldn't understand what they were saying when we did badly.
"Five years was long enough for me. We wanted to get our kids back over to the states."
Hillman hasn't forgotten where his roots are either. The Arlington native learned the ways of the game from his father and coaches from UTA and Sam Houston High School.
"My father was a coach and I played for a great high school coach," Hillman said. "The tenacity of all the coaches together along with all the education and X's and O's - it just fueled the fire for me.
"I loved the game already, but it fueled the fire for me to grow as a baseball man."
