Is Negro League Hall of Famer player buried here?

Burr Oak is possible graveyard of Pete Hill

There are 289 members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Only one Hall of Famer does not have a grave marker.

That is former Chicago American Giants outfielder Pete Hill, who played blackball-era baseball between 1903 and 1925. He got a base hit and scored a run as my designated hitter in a simulated game with the new "Strat-O-Matic Negro League All Stars."

Jeremy Krock is a Peoria anesthesiologist who since 1993 has helped secure headstones for forgotten Negro Leaguers. His first effort was the granite marker for outfielder Jimmy Crutchfield (also in the new Strat-O set) at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip.

"I've checked Burr Oak, Restvale, Beverly," Krock said this week. "We can't find Pete. He died in Buffalo in 1951, and his death certificate says his body was taken to Chicago for burial. His son lived in Gary and died there within the past 10 years. When Pete went into the Hall of Fame [in 2006], there was no family there."

Krock checked out Burr Oak before cemetery manager Carolyn Towns was fired this spring after being accused of ordering employees to dig up bodies and resell plots at the historic graveyard. Authorities estimate 300 graves were dug up over several years.

"She went over all the Hills and couldn't find any that matched," he said. "Lots of Negro Leaguers were buried there because it was the African-American cemetery and it was affordable. About 20 Negro Leaguers are there. None were disturbed by what happened this year. They're all marked."

White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf bought a marker for Negro League pitcher John Donaldson, also in the Strat-O set. "Carolyn was good with us," Krock said. "I'd go in there with a name and she'd hunt it down.

"Hopefully Pete Hill is not one of the ones they destroyed."

Dave Hoekstra