Previous entries

Junior Thompson

Eddie Gaedel

 

We continue to look at major league players that were born in Illinois and today is their Birthday.

 

Lee Dunham

 

 

He was born Leland Huffield Dunham in Atlanta, Il on June 9, 1902. He attended college at both the University of Illinois in Champaign and Illinois Wesleyan College in Bloomington, Il. After college he began playing professional baseball in 1925. He was assigned to the Binghamton Triplets which played in the New York-Pennsylvania League and led the team with a .334 batting average.The following season he was called up to the major leagues with the Philadelphia Phillies and made his debut on April 17, 1926 as a pinch hitter. He went 1-for-1 with an RBI for the game. He was a first baseman and played in five games and was sent down to the Virginia League where he played for the Wilson Bugs. He batted .300 for them that season. He never made it back to the major leagues but in his career in the minors he had 1,024 hits in 910 games with a .310 batting average.

Dunham died in 1961, in Atlanta, Illinois, at the age of 58.

 

 

 

Charlie Kavanaugh

Charles Hugh “Charlie” Kavanaugh was born in Chicago on June 9, 1891. He went directly to the major leagues and never played in the minors. In 1914, he played in six games for the Chicago White Sox and got one hit, struck out twice in six plate appearances. He never played defense as he was strictly used as a pinch hitter. He made his last appearance at the plate n June 28, 1914. Kavanaugh worked for Cook County treasurer after his playing days were over. He died on September 6, 1973.

 

 

 

 

Jason Anderson

 

   Born in Danville, Il. on June 9, 1979, Jason Anderson is a former major league pitcher and current head baseball coach at Eastern Illinois University. In high school he was an all-stater at Danville High School and put together a 14-1 record with six consecutive shutouts. He received a scholarship to play baseball at the University of Illinois where he earned All-American status and Academic All-American along with Newcomer of the Year in 1998. In 2000, he was named Big Ten pitcher of the year. He was drafted in the 2000 Amateur Draft by the New York Yankees and eventually played minor league baseball for the Staten Island Yankees where he became the first from the team to get promoted to the New York Yankees. He also had a day proclaimed for him and had his number was retired by Staten Island.

He made 22 appearances for the Yankees and received one win before he was traded across town to the New York Mets. He was designated for assignment and claimed by the Cleveland Indians where he pitched one inning for them as he allowed five runs. He went back to the Yankees in 2005, then the Padres in 2006 and was signed by the Cubs to a minor league contract.from there he went to the Phillies. He spent the next several seasons in the minor leagues and retired on July 19, 2011.

He became pitching coach for the Eastern Illinois University Panthers and after three seasons was promoted to head coach.

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