Hillman played high school ball at Homewood-Flossmoor in suburban Chicago, and then collegiately at Eastern Illinois University.

After his MLB career, he pitched in NPB from 1995 to 1998 for the Chiba Lotte Marines and the Yomiuri Giants.

Hillman, however, disappointed as he spent most of the time on the disabled list with shoulder pain.

In 1998, he was still on the disabled list and continued to have severe pain in his throwing shoulder.

Dr. James Andrews performed the surgery and discovered a full thickness tear in the rotator cuff, a diagnosis the Japanese doctors and trainers had missed.