Once the coronavirus pandemic suspended the NBA season, George Hill escaped to a place where he had space to social distance — 850 acres, to be exact.

The Milwaukee Bucks point guard flew to stay at the Hill Country ranch he purchased in 2017, according to a recent ESPN profile. The sprawling property, a 35-minute drive north of Hill’s offseason home in San Antonio, is home to a number of exotic animals.

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Hill keeps kangaroos, six zebras, wildebeests, donkeys, elk, and antelope, among others.

“I just think it’s cool for my kids to see,” Hill told ESPN. “And for them to have something different. Everyone has a dog or a cat … I just choose other animals.”

When Hill bought the ranch, the realtor told mySA that he “knew it was the one he had been dreaming about.”

“One thing many people do not know about George is that he loves the outdoors,” the realtor said. “He loves paintballing, hunting and fun, outdoor toys, so he will definitely be using the land for recreation and hunting.”

The Spurs drafted Hill with the 26th overall pick in 2008. (He was traded to the Indiana Pacers in 2011 in exchange for the rights to Kawhi Leonard and Davis Bertans.) As a rookie, he learned to hunt with season-ticket holders Will and Gloria Drash.

Hill has since become an avid hunter, but he said the animals on his ranch are not for hunting. Four employees are charged with taking care of the animals.

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“The only thing I hunt on my land is wild hogs and coyotes, because they cause so many problems,” he said.

The article notes that owning exotic animals is legal in Texas. Hill purchased his from licensed specialty breeders in the state. The most expensive animals on his ranch are the female sable antelope and kudu, which cost $20,000 to $25,000 apiece.

“If this is what retirement looks like,” Hill said. “This is better than I thought.”

Mark Dunphy is a breaking news and general assignment reporter for MySA.com | mark.dunphy@express-news.net |@m_b_dunphy

“She was trying to enter the stadium with an oversized bag and she had been told several times, ‘no,’ “ said Robert Bolger, chief administrator for Foxborough police. “She tried several times to go to a different gate. She was ordered to leave the property.”

When Caitlin Hill refused to leave the grounds of the stadium, she was arrested on charges of disorderly conduct and trespassing, Bolger said. Officers were putting Caitlin Hill into a prisoner transport van for the trip to the Foxborough station for booking when Richard Hill intervened with police, Bolger said.

“He saw her as they were trying to get her into a van to bring to the police station, and he started to interfere with the officers,’’ Bolger said. “He was told several times to back up and he would not. And he ended up getting arrested.”

Both Hills were arraigned Monday in Wrentham District Court, but the criminal charges against the couple were changed into civil infractions by Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey’s office. Richard Hill’s charge of intimidating a police officer, a felony, was dismissed prior to arraignment by Morrissey’s office in the “interests of justice,” said Morrissey spokesman David Traub.

Caitlin Hill’s two charges were converted into civil infractions and she was ordered to pay a fine of $250 each and Richard Hill was fined $500 for the single count of disorderly conduct he faced, according to Traub, who said it was “not unusual” for Morrissey’s office “to convert disorderly conduct and trespassing charges in that way.”

Hill’s Boston-based attorney, Francis T. O’Brien, called the incident “a terribly unfortunate event that should never have escalated beyond a routine encounter with stadium security.”

“Commendably, the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office recognized this and the matter was appropriately resolved as a civil, non criminal, infraction,” he said in an e-mail. “This was a fair and proper resolution and the matter is closed.”

Hill, in a statement, said “Despite Saturday’s events, my great respect for law enforcement remains unchanged.”

“However, seeing my wife handcuffed for a problem that started because of her fanny pack was extremely difficult for me to witness,” he said. “This was all overblown and we are glad to have it behind us.”

Hill, a Milton native, joined the major leagues in 2005 and spent several seasons with the Boston Red Sox. For the past three years, he has played for the Los Angeles Dodgers but is now a free agent working to recover from off-season surgery to his pitching arm.

Hill, who is 39, is slated to receive the 2019 Tony Conigliaro Award at the annual Boston Baseball Writers Dinner Jan. 16 at the Seaport Hotel in Boston. The award is given to a “major leaguer who has overcome adversity through the attributes of spirit, determination, and courage that were trademarks of Tony C.”

In February, the couple donated $575,000 to support research on rare and undiagnosed genetic diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital for Children, a charitable effort they began after losing their son, Brooks Hill, about two months after he was born at MGH on Dec. 26, 2013, the Globe reported.

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Correction: Due to a reporting error, an earlier version of this story misstated one of the two criminal charges filed against him by Foxborough police. Hill was charged with intimidating a police officer, a felony. Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey’s office dismissed the charge before arraignment.

Danny McDonald of Globe staff contributed to this report.

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John R. Ellement can be reached at john.ellement@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @JREbosglobe.

Free agent pitcher Rich Hill, who spent the last four seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers, was arrested at the New England Patriots-Buffalo Bills game on Saturday as he and his wife were charged with disorderly conduct. 

Foxborough police told the Boston Globe that Hill’s wife, Caitlin, repeatedly tried to enter Gillette Stadium with an oversized bag. When she was turned away several times and refused to leave the area, police arrested her. That’s when the 15-year MLB veteran intervened. 

“He saw her as they were trying to get her into a van to bring to the police station, and he started to interfere with the officers,’’ Robert Bolger, chief administrator for Foxborough police, told the Globe. “He was told several times to back up and he would not. And he ended up getting arrested.”

The Hills were both arraigned Monday, when Rich Hill’s charge of resisting arrest was dismissed and he was fined $500 for disorderly conduct. Caitlin Hill had her criminal charges of disorderly conduct and trespassing converted to civil infractions and was fined a total of $500.

“Despite Saturday’s events, my great respect for law enforcement remains unchanged,” Hill said in a statement released by his attorney. “However, seeing my wife handcuffed for a problem that was started because of her fanny pack was extremely difficult for me to witness. This was all overblown and we are glad to have it behind us.”

A native of Milton, Massachusetts, Hill spent three seasons with the Red Sox from 2010-12. He began his career with the Chicago Cubs in 2005 and played for five other teams before the Dodgers acquired him at the 2016 trade deadline.

Hill, 39, has enjoyed his greatest success in his late 30s with the Dodgers, going 30-16 with a 3.16 ERA over 361 1/3 innings. His three-year, $48 million contract expired this offseason, making him a free agent. However, he will miss at least the first half of the 2020 season recovering from elbow surgery in October.