Hemphill was born in Greenville, Michigan. His younger brother, Frank Hemphill, also was an outfielder.\n', '

Basically a line-drive hitter, Hemphill entered the major leagues in 1899 with the St. Louis Perfectos, appearing in 11 games before joining the Cleveland Spiders during mid-season. The St. Louis and Cleveland clubs, both owned by the Robinson Brothers, proceeded to transfer the Spider\'s top players to St. Louis, leaving Cleveland with a truly awful club – they finished the 1899 season with a record of 20–134 which is the worst mark in major league history. The Spiders folded at the end of the season and, Hemphill went to the Kansas City Blues of the newly created American League in 1900; the AL was still considered a minor league that year.\n', '

In 1901, Hemphill became the first opening day right fielder in the history of the Boston Red Sox. After that he played for the Cleveland Bronchos, St. Louis Browns and the New York Highlanders. His most productive season came in 1902, when he hit a combined .308 with Cleveland and St. Louis. He enjoyed another good season in 1908 with the Highlanders, hitting .298 with a career-high 42 stolen bases. His final season in the majors came in 1911 with the Highlanders, where he was a teammate of Chet Hoff, in what would be Hoff\'s only big-league campaign. Hoff wound up being the longest-lived player in major league baseball history, finally passing away at the age of 107 in 1998–nearly a century after his old teammate Hemphill first played in the majors.\n', '

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