TABLE OF CONTENTS for Previous Articles

   Al Papai born May 7, 1917 in Divernon, Illinois. He made his first appearance in the major leagues on April 24, 1948 with the St. Louis Cardinals as a pitcher. In that game he came in to pitch the 9th inning with the Cardinals trailing 5-2. He got the first batter to groundout, then Hal Jeffcoat hit a homerun off of him. That was followed by a fly out, a walk and a caught stealing. Here is the BOXSCORE for that game.

He went on to play for the Browns, Red Sox and White Sox in his career. He was primarily a knuckleball pitcher. In his only major league full-season he went 4-11 with a 5.06 ERA for the helpless Browns. In parts of four seasons, he posted a 9–14 record with a 5.37 ERA in 88 appearances, including 18 starts, eight complete games, four saves, 70 strikeouts, 138 walks, and 239 ⅔ innings of work.His last appearance was September 1, 1955 with the Chicago White Sox.  Papai died in Springfield, Illinois, at the age of 78.

Where is Divernon, Illinois?  Divernon is a village in Sangamon County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,201 at the 2000 census, and 1,131 at a 2009 estimate. It is part of the Springfield, Illinois Metropolitan Statistical Area.





   William Patrick Perry (Pat Perry)  born on February 4. 1959 in Taylorville, Illinois. He made his debut in the major leagues as a lefthanded pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals on September 12, 1985. In his debut he pitched four innings and allowed two hits with no walks and three strikeouts. BOXSCORE.

His last game was on September 30, 1990 with the Los Angeles Dodgers. In his career, he went 12-10 and a 3.46 ERA along with 131 strikeouts in six seasons.


Where is Taylorville, Illinois? Taylorville is a city in and the county seat of Christian County, Illinois, United States. The population was 11,427 at the 2000 census, making it the county’s largest city.

   Emil John “Dutch” Leonard was born in Auburn, Illinois on March 25, 1909. He made his major league debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers on August 31, 1933. In that game he came in to relieve in the first inning after the starter gave up a ton of runs. He pitched 7.1 innings and allowed eight hits and four runs. BOXSCORE Leonard played for 4 different teams and was a 5-time All Star. In a 20-season career, Leonard posted a 191–181 win-loss record with 1170 strikeouts and a 3.25 earned run average in 3218 1⁄3 innings pitched. He was a six-time All-Star selection.

On July 4, 1939 Leonard pitched a complete game and the Senators defeated the New York Yankees in the first game of a doubleheader at Yankee Stadium. At the conclusion of the first game, Lou Gehrig delivered his famous “luckiest man on the face of the earth” speech.

During the 1945 season, Leonard was part of what was possibly the only four-man rotation in baseball history to have been all knuckleball pitchers. Reportedly, after facing Leonard, Jackie Robinson once said: “I am glad of one thing, and that is I don’t have to hit against Dutch Leonard everyday. Man, what a knuckleball that fellow has. It comes up, makes a face at you, then runs away.”

Leonard died on April 17, 1983 at the age of 74.

Where is Auburn, Illinois?  Auburn is a city in Sangamon County, Illinois, United States. The population was 4,317 at the 2000 census, and 4,445 in 2009. It is part of the Springfield, Illinois Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Continuing the series.

George Moriarty

George Joseph Moriarty was bon on July 7, 1884 in Chicago near the Union Stock Yards. He went on to become a major legue third baseman along with an umpire and manager in the major leagues. He made his debut on September 7, 1903 at the age of 19 for the Chicago Cubs. In his career, he played for four teams with 248 career stolen bases which included 11 of home plate. He played his last game with the White Sox on May 4, 1916.

He then turned to umpiring from 1917-1940 except in 1927-1928 he was the manager of the Tigers. He was one of the AL’s most highly regarded umpires in his era, working in the 1921, 1925, 1930, 1933 & 1935 World Series (as crew chief in 1930 & 1935), as well as the second All-Star Game in 1934.
On a memorable Memorial Day in 1932, Moriarty worked behind the plate for a Cleveland Indians home game against the White Sox. When several Chicago players took exception to his calls, he challenged them to settle the dispute under the stands of League Park after the game. Pitcher Milt Gaston took him on first but Moriarty knocked him flat, breaking his hand. Several White Sox, including manager Lew Fonseca and catcher and future AL umpire Charlie Berry, took him on in turn. The next day, AL president Will Harridge issued numerous fines and a 10-day suspension for Gaston.

John Romonosky 

Born in Harrisburg, Illinois on July 7, 1929,  John Romonosky became a right-handed pitcher for three seasons in Major League Baseball, appearing in 32 games for the 1953 St. Louis Cardinals and the 1958–59 Washington Senators. His minor league baseball career spanned 13 seasons between 1949 and 1961.

After his first recall from the minor leagues, Romonosky started two games for the Cardinals at the end of the 1953 campaign, earning no decisions. In fact, in his Major League debut against the Milwaukee Braves, the second game of a Sunday doubleheader at County Stadium, the game ended in a 3–3 tie after eight innings of play. Romonosky allowed three earned runs and seven hits in six innings, with two bases on balls and three strikeouts.

Sent back to the minors by St. Louis for the 1954 season, Romonosky didn’t return to the majors until July 1958 as a member of the Senators. He started five games during that month, but won only one game (losing the other four) and he worked out of the bullpen for the remainder of the 1958 campaign, appearing in 18 total MLB games. He began the next season with Washington, and worked in 12 more contests, two as a starter. He posted a career-best 3.29 earned run average that season, but did not pitch in a big-league game after July 27 and spent part of the season with the Double-A Chattanooga Lookouts. However, in his final Major League game in September 1959, he pinch-ran for Senators’ slugger Roy Sievers in the eighth inning and scored the winning run in a 5–4 win over the Cleveland Indians at Griffith Stadium. In his career, he  yielded 97 hits and 51 bases on balls in 101⅓ major league innings, with 63 strikeouts.

Salty Parker

Francis James “Salty” Parker was born in East St. Louis, Illinois on July 8, 1912. Parker played in the Major Leagues for one month from August 13, 1936 through September 16, 1936. He appeared in 11 games, 7 at shortstop, for the Detroit Tigers, collecting seven hits and four RBIs for a .280 batting average and a .333 on-base percentage. Parker was sent to the Tigers on December 2, 1936 in a trade with Indianapolis American Association that also brought Dizzy Trout to the Tigers. Though Parker only played a month, Trout was a Major League pitcher for years, and eventually the Tigers’ ace.

After a lengthy minor league managerial career, including a stint managing Leones de Escogido in the Dominican Republic (1957–59), Parker coached for the San Francisco Giants (1958–61), Cleveland Indians (1962), Los Angeles/California Angels (1964–66; 1973–74), New York Mets (1967) and Houston Astros (1968–72) and served brief stints as manager of the Mets, where he had a 4–7 record in 11 games in 1967, and the Astros, where he had a 1–0 record in 1 game in 1972.[1] After his MLB coaching career, Parker scouted for the Angels and remained active in Houston-area baseball, coaching in the Karl Young League for many years.

Zach Monroe 

Zachary Charles Monroe was born on July 8, 1931 in Peoria, Illinois.  He was a pitcher over parts of 2 seasons in Major League Baseball (1958–59) with the New York Yankees. He made his debut on June 27, 1958 for the Yankees where he pitched 3.1 innings and allowed no earned runs with four walks and three strikeouts. BOXSCORE  He was a member of the 1958 World Series champion Yankees. An alumnus of Bradley University, for his career he compiled an 4–2 record with a 3.38 earned run average and 19 strikeouts in 24 appearance

Hank O’Day (Chicago)

Henry M. O’Day (July 8, 1859[2] – July 2, 1935), nicknamed “The Reverend”, was an American right-handed pitcher and later an umpire and manager in Major League Baseball. After a seven-year major league playing career, he worked as a National League (NL) umpire for 30 seasons between 1895 and 1927.

O’Day umpired in ten World Series – second only to Bill Klem’s total of 18 – including five of the first seven played, and was behind the plate for the first modern World Series game in 1903. Retiring at age 68 years, 2 months, he remains the oldest umpire in major league history – a fact which was not known until recently, as he routinely shaved five to seven years from his true age throughout his career. His 3,986 total games as an umpire ranked third in major league history when he retired, and his 2,710 games as the plate umpire still rank second in major league history to Klem’s total of 3,544. He is largely known for his controversial decision in a pivotal 1908 game, a ruling that still causes debate today. O’Day interrupted his umpiring career twice for single seasons as a manager, leading the Cincinnati Reds in 1912 and the Chicago Cubs in 1914. He remains the only person ever to serve full seasons in the NL as a player, manager and umpire. O’Day was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in July 2013.

On July 8, 1901, his 42nd birthday, the fans are not happy with him as umpire because of some calls he makes. In the 8th inning, the Cardinals are leading 4-3, when the umpire calls two Brooklyn runners safe on the same play when both appear out. One of the runners ran 5-10 feet into the infield to avoid a tag on a weak grounder to first base. The second runner was clearly tagged out as he tries to advance to third base. The Cardinals argue vehemently. The fans toss bottles and jump from the bleachers to get their hands on the umpire. When order is restored, O’Day had a cut lip and both runners later score. The Cardinals lose 6-4 in the game and police had to escort the umpire to safety. It was the umpire’s birthday.

Continuing my series on Illinois born major league players.

Roy Hawes   

Roy Lee Hawes was born July 5, 1926 in Shiloh, Illinois. He was a first baseman in Major League Baseball, who played in three games for the Washington Senators in 1951. He had six at bats with one hit in three games. He is currently the 78th oldest living former major league player as of this writing.

Jeff Innis  

Jeffrey David Innis was born July 5, 1962 in Decatur, Illinois and attended the University of Illinois and received a psychology degree. He  is a former pitcher in Major League Baseball who played his entire career for the New York Mets from 1987 through 1993. He batted and threw right-handed.He  threw two different breaking balls with a deceptive movement that disconcerted opposite hitters. A workhorse out of the New York Mets bullpen, Innis led the team in games pitched from 1991–93, averaging 84 innings per season. In 1991, he became the only pitcher in major league history to appear in at least 60 games without recording a win or a save. He broke the streak recording a win in relief on the 1992 Opening Day as he set a team record with 76 pitching appearances that season. His nickname was “I-Man”.

In a seven-season career, Innis posted a 10-20 record with a 3.05 ERA in 288 games.

Ward Miller  

Ward Taylor Miller was born July 4, 1884 in Mount Carroll, Illinois and became a professional baseball player who played outfielder in the Major Leagues from 1909-1917. He played for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, St. Louis Terriers, and St. Louis Browns.

Miller, a graduate of Northern Illinois University, made his major league debut on April 14, 1909.He played 15 games for the Pittsburgh Pirates during their pennant-winning 1909 season and had a batting average of .143 before he was traded to the Cincinnati Reds along with cash for Kid Durbin. In 43 games with the Reds during the 1909 Cincinnati Reds season, he hit .310 and had nine stolen bases. In his career, he had a .278 batting average with 623 hitw and 123 stolen bases.

Ken Sears   

Kenneth Eugene Sears was born on July 6, 1917 in Streator, Illinois and went on to play college baseball at the University of Alabama. was an American professional baseball catcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) during the 1943 and 1946 seasons with his debut on May 2, 1943.  He played with the New York Yankees and the St. Louis Browns. He had a .282 career batting average in 67 career games and batted left and threw right-handed. He played college baseball at the University of Alabama.

For previous articles click HERE.

Continuing on with my series on Illinois Born major league players finds some interesting facts. These players were all born between July 1 and July 4. For more articles on “Boys of Summer” players click HERE.

Mel Simons was born Melburn “Butch” Ellis Simons in Carlyle, Illinois on July 1, 1900. He played outfield for the Chciago White Sox for two season (1931-1932) and finished with a .268 batting average with 12 runs batted in. He hit no home runs and made his debut on April 14, 1931. At the age of 74, he died and was buried in Paducah, Kentucky.

Pete Burnside

Peter Willits Burnside ws born July 2, 1930 in Evanston, Illinois. He attended New Trier High School and graduated from Dartmouth College. He became a lefthanded major league pitcher and made his major league debut on September 20, 1955. He started on the mound for the New York Giants and lasted 3 2/3 innings allowing 3 hits and 2 earned runs with 6 walks and 2 strikeouts. He didn’t figure in the decision. He played for five teams from 1955-1963. In his career he was 19-36 with a 4.81 ERA and 303 strikeouts.

 Tom Gilles   

Thomas Bradford Gilles (born July 2, 1962) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. Gilles pitched in two games for the Toronto Blue Jays in the 1990 season. He had a 1-0 record, in 1.3 innings, with a 6.75 ERA. He played June 7th and 8th in 1990. Born in Peoria, Illinois, he was drafted by the New York Yankees in the 47th round of the 1984 amateur draft.

Frank Millard

Frank E. Millard wass born in East St. Louis, Illinoius. He played second base in one game, with no hits, for the St. Louis Browns of the American Association on May 4, 1890. He died two years later, while playing for the Galveston Sand Crabs in the Texas League.

Bill Tuttle  

William Robert Tuttle was born on July 4, 1929 in Cramer , Illinois which is near Farmington. He went on to attend Bradley University in Peoria before he enter ed the major leagues as a centerfielder. He made his debut on September 10, 1952 for the Detroit Tigers. In his 12 year career,  he hit .259 with 67 home runs and 443 runs batted in. He had 1,105 career hits before retiring on May 11, 1963. Throughout his career, Tuttle was considered one of the most reliable outfielders in the game, leading the league in putouts in 1955 and 1960 and outfield assists in 1959 and 1960.

On practically every baseball card issued for Tuttle, a large bulge of chewing tobacco is evident in his cheek. Tuttle died in Anoka, Minnesota at the age of 69, and oral cancer was in all likelihood the cause of his death. Bill was diagnosed with oral cancer five years before his death, and he put the last half-decade of his life to use in raising awareness, as an active volunteer for the National Spit Tobacco Education Program (NSTEP) of Oral Health America.
During the last years of his life, Tuttle was facially disfigured due to extensive surgery for oral cancer. He traveled widely as a public speaker, warning major league players of the dangers of chewing tobacco. “It’s going to be pretty hard to tell someone making $4 million a year not to chew”, he admitted. “So what we’re trying to do is get it off TV.” What Tuttle was trying to do was to stop baseball players from chewing tobacco, and thus setting a bad example for the young people who watch baseball. After being diagnosed with oral cancer, he was interviewed for a Reader’s Digest article entitled “My War With A Smoke Free Killer” in which he detailed how he was introduced to chewing tobacco by a teammate while sidelined with an injury and subsequently became addicted. The article made it a point to show pictures of a disfigured Tuttle after his many facial surgeries. He died in July 1998 at age 69.

I continue my series on Illinois born major league players. If you wish to see the list of players we have highlighted so far, please click HERE.

Larry Stahl

Larry Floyd Stahl as born on June 29, 1941 in Belleville, Illinois and became a  professional baseball player who played outfielder in the Major Leagues from 1964-1973. He played for the Kansas City Athletics, New York Mets, San Diego Padres, and Cincinnati Reds.

He made his debut on September 11, 1964 for the Athletics as a pinch hitter. He got his first hit against the Yankees on September 19th with Ralph Terry on the mound. His one moment in history may have came on September 2, 1972 as a member of the San Diego Padres. Milt Pappas was on the mound for the Cubs and he retired 26 btters in a row and now faced Stahl as a pinch hitter. Pappas got the count to 2-2 with Bruce froemming behnd the plate and threw a very close pitch for ball 3 on the batter. The next pitch was too close to take but Froemming called it ball four and the perfect games was gone and broken up by Larry Stahl. Pappas preserved the no-hitter on the next batter. Primarily an outfielder, his best year was 1971 at age 30 when, in 114 games for the Padres, he hit .253 with eight home runs and 36 runs batted in. He had exactly 400 career hits. In his one postseason appearance, the 1973 National League Championship Series, playing for the Reds he had two hits in four at bats.

Bill Webb

   William Joseph Webb was born on June 25, 1895 in Chicago, Illinois. He played in five major league games with his debut on September 17, 1917 as a second baseman for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He went ent hitless in his first four games but on October 1, 1917, which turned out to be his last major league game, he got three singles in four at bats to end his career at 3-for-15 for a .200 batting average. He went to the minor leagues and became a player-manager for the Buffalo Bisons in 1924-1925 and then moved up the ldder from there. He was a third base coach in the major legues for fives seasons and then went to the front office for the White Sox as minor league director. He died in a car accident on his way to work on January 12, 1943.

Joe Zdeb

Joseph Edmund Zdeb was born on June 27, 1953 in Compton, Illinois (Compton is a village in Lee County, Illinois, United States. The population was 303 at the 2010 census, down from 347 in 2000) and attended high school at Maine South in Park Ridge, Illinois. He had a scholarship to the University of Missouri to play football but was chosen in the 4th round of the 1971 amateur draft by the Kansas City Royals. He decided to play baseball. He had several minor leagues stops on his way to the major leagues. At some point, during minor league spring training, he showed up to camp with long hair, which was against team policy. Manager Joe Gordon refused to give him a uniform, so he approached general manager Lou Gorman, asking “Mr. Gorman, if I cut my hair, will I become a better ballplayer?” Gorman said he needed to cut it to properly represent the organization, and after initially refusing, he did so a couple days later.

He made his major league debut on April 7, 1977 and went 1-for 4. He was a platoon (left fielder) player most of his brief career. He played his last game in May 29, 1979. On January 15, 1980, Zdeb was traded to the Chicago White Sox for pitcher Eddie Bane. He finished his professional career that year, splitting the season between the White Sox Iowa Oaks affiliate and the Tidewater Tides in the New York Mets organization. His struggles at the plate continued, as he hit a combined .194, and after the season he was out of professional baseball. For his career, he batted .272 with 2 home runs and 34 runs batted in.

Welcome to my series called, Illinois Born “Boys of Summer”. It is my hope to bring some history to your baseball knowledge from the State of Illinois. Many cemeteries around the state have the grave sites of former major league players. From the big towns like Chicago and Peoria to the smaller one in Atlanta, Staunton, Latham Havana, Emden and more, we find former major league players.

Here is a link to each one that has been written and the town they were born in Illinois. Enjoy!

Atlanta— Lee Dunham

Auburn— Dutch Leonard 

Aurora— Ken Jungels 

Belleville— Larry Stahl

Belvidere— Joe Charboneau 

Blue Island— Norm Glockson  

Bushnell— Earl Sheely 

Cantrall— Carl Vandagrift

Carlyle— Mel Simons  

Chicago—Eddie Gaedel, Charlie Kavanaugh, Mem Lovett , Eddie Malone, Heinie Reitz 

Gerry Arrigo, Irv Medlinger , Newt Holliday. George Vukovich, Hank O’Day

George Moriarty, Bill Webb  

Chicago Hts.– Bret Prinz   

Cramer– Bill Tuttle   

Compton– Joe Zdeb

Danville– Jason Anderson  

Decatur– Jeff Innis   

Divernon– Al Papai

East St. Louis– Frank Millard, Salty Parker  

Elgin– Lou North 

Elkhart- Jake Stahl, Tommy Thompson

Evanston– Pete Burnside 

Fillmore– Ray Sinclair 

Harrisburg– John Romonsky  

Joliet— Tom Haller   

Latham– Eugene “Junior” Thompson

Lincolnwood– George Kontos 

Mount Olive– Mike Kreevich

Mt. Carroll– Ward Miller   

Olney– Glenn Brummer, Ollie Pickering, Dummy Murphy, Stan Royer         

Peoria– George Whiteman. Zach Monroe, Tom Gilles   

Petersburg– Bill Krieg      

Rock Island– Bill Zies 

Shiloh– Roy Hawes   

Staunton– Henry Keupper 

Streator– Ken Sears  

Taylorville– Pat Perry