Author: Tom Knuppel

I continue the series.

Illinois Born Major League Players-

 

Gerry Arrigo

Arrigo was born Gerald William Arrigo on June 12, 1941 in Chicago and attended Harrison High School. After his high school days, he was signed in 1960 by the Chicago White Sox in the amateur draft and then drafted away by the Minnesota Twins. He made his major league debut (Boxscore) on June 12, 1961 (his 20th birthday) giving up three runs and taking the loss. One of his best games came om June 26, 1964 when he had a no-hitter broken up in the 9th inning against the White Sox and he repeated the one hitter in 1967 on April 29th pitching against the Yankees. .

On August 16, 1966 he was purchased by the Cincinnati Reds and had his best season with them in 1967 as he started 31 games and threw 205 innings with a 3.33 ERA and a 12-10 record. He pitched five complete games and struck out 140 batters. He was later sent to the White Sox and played his final game in June 5, 1970.

 

 

George Kontos

George Nicholas Kontos (born June 12, 1985) is a relief pitcher, that plays for the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball (MLB). Kontos made his MLB debut on September 10, 2011 (Boxscore) for the New York Yankees before he was traded to the Giants before the 2012 season. Prior to playing professionally, he played college baseball at Northwestern University. He bats and throws right-handed.

The New York Yankees selected Kontos in the fifth round of the 2006 Major League Baseball draft after his junior year and was assigned to the Staten Island Yankees of the Class A-Short Season New York–Penn League.

On February 1, 2016, Kontos agreed to a one-year, $1.15 million contract with the San Francisco Giants, avoiding arbitration. After appearing in eight of the Giants’ first 13 games of the 2016 season, Kontos went on the disabled list with a strained flexor.
Kontos’ younger brother, Chris, played on a traveling baseball team, known as the Renegades, that was coached by Steve Bartman and his second cousin Tony.

 

 

We are continuing our  profile of major league players born in Illinois. 

 

   Mike Kreevich

 

 

Michael Andreas Kreevich was born in Mount Olive, Illinois on June 10, 1908. He was a small person at five foot seven and began working in the coal mines in 1924 at 16 years of age. The mines closed during the Great Depression in 1930 and began to play more baseball. He got an invite to play for a team in Oklahoma and before long he got the notice of the Chicago Cubs.

In 1931, Kreevich an outfielder, made his major league debut on September 7, 1931 and went 2-for-4 with a stolen base. He played five games during that season. He joined the White Sox in 1935 and worked hard to become a regular in 1936. In that season he led the American League in sacrifice flies and triples. He was named to the 1938 All Star team.

 

He was traded to Philadelphia in 1941 and was released upon the conclusion of the season. In 1943 he signed with the St. Louis Browns and was a participant in the 1944 World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals. He was sold to the Washington Senators in mid season 1945 and finished out the year and then retired from baseball.

In his 12 year career he batted .283 with 1321 hits, 221 doubles, 75 triples and 45 home runs. He also had 115 stolen bases and 119 sacrifice hits in 1241 games.

He died April 25, 1994 and is buried in Pana, Illinois.

 

 

 

 

 

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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The Play: With none out, none on, and a two-strike count, the batter attempts to strike a fastball, missing the pitch as it traveled through the strike zone. The catcher, too, misses his catch, as the ball bounces off his glove and into the air, where it strike’s the bat as the batter completes his natural backswing. As the deflected ball caroms toward the wall behind home plate, the batter-runner arrives at first base ahead of the catcher’s throw.

 Using professional rules, what is the call?

 

Scroll down for answer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ANSWER:

The batter-runner should be out for runner INT under (new rule) 6.01(c), as he has clearly hindered the catcher’s attempt to field the ball after strike 3. The ball is dead, and the batter-runner is out.

Even if we rule this “weak” or “backswing INT” under pro rule 6.03(c) The ball will be dead immediately, and so the batter will be unable to advance on strike 3.

There’s no harm or foul intended on the BR’s part, so just kill the play, award a strike and return your runners. In this case, the BR had a X-2 count, so, he’d be out. Standard weak interference.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is heard all across America. Fans of major college basketball teams want their school to get the local kids. In mny cases, that would help success but that is not always the fact.

 

So Travis Ford is now the Head Coach of the SLU Billikens. He mentioned he wanted the kids from St. Louis, Kansas City, the State of Missouri and The State of Illinois to give his program first look and strong consideration. Can that work? If you JUST recruited St. Louis are you putting several key pieces on the floor to help the program? Can you find five players in the area or the city that can play like Division I players should?

Let’s take a brief look.

• Jayson Tatum of Chaminade High School was just named the 2015-2016 Gatorade Player of the Year. He accept a scholarship at Duke, not St. Louis under Jim Crews.
• Tyler Cook, also of Chaminade, has signed to go to Iowa.
• Mikey Lewis, a guard at Chaminade, is expected to play at Duquesne.
• Hazelwood Central forward, Xavier Sneed, is playing for Bruce Weber at Kansas State.
• Jordan Barnes, CBC guard, has his sights set on Indiana State.

Granted, they all may not rise to a level of success they are hoping for in D1 basketball, but neither to several other recruits that other school sign. That is a starting 5 that just comes from St. Louis. If Travis Ford can get these kind of players along with Kansas City and compete is Mizzou and Illinois, he has the makings for a very successful future at St. Louis University.

 

 

1943 The Texas League, as will most minor leagues, announces it will cease operations for the duration of World War II. The difficulty to travel and the lack of able-bodied men available to fill team rosters make suspending play a necessity.
1948 The White Sox trade Ed Lopat to the Yankees for Aaron Robinson, Bill Wight and Fred Bradley.
1966 University of Southern California pitcher Tom Seaver is signed by the Braves. The deal will later be voided, and the USC stand-out will be selected by the Mets in a special draft.
1977 The Oakland A’s trade Ron Fairly to the Toronto Blue Jays for minor leaguer Mike Weathers and cash. The Macon, Georgia native, who played with the Montreal Expos from 1969 to 1974, becomes the first major leaguer to appear with both Canadian teams.
1986 Eleven weeks after Padres executives attempt to buy out his contract, only to be thwarted by team owner Joan Kroc, Dick Williams resigns as manager of the Padres. The future Hall of Fame skipper, who captured a NL pennant in 1984 and compiled a 337-311 (.520) record during his four seasons in San Diego, will be replaced by Steve Boros.
1990 At the age of 45, former Red Sox fan favorite Tony Conigliaro dies of pneumonia and kidney failure. Hitting 32 home runs in 1965 at the age of 20, the Revere, MA native becomes the youngest player ever to lead the American League in home runs.
2003 In the wake of Steve Belcher’s death, Commissioner Bud Selig bans the use of ephedra in the minor leagues. Players on the current 40-man major league rosters, which would have included the 23 year-old Oriole pitcher who died last week, are not prohibited to use the substance because as union members they are already covered by the drug-testing rules of the new collective bargaining agreement, which bans only drugs of abuse and certain illegal steroids.
2010 A Kansas man, who sat six rows behind the third-base dugout, files a lawsuit against the Royals as a result of being hit in the eye by a hot dog thrown by Sluggerrr, the team’s mascot. The suit is seeking $25,000 in damages for injuries caused by the flying frank, which includes a detached retina and the development of cataracts in the left eye.