Illini Legends, Lists & Lore

Lee Eilbracht's major leaguers

Fifty-eight years ago, Lee Eilbracht was named acting head coach of the Illini baseball team, replacing Wally Roettger (who died the previous September). Eilbracht lettered three years as a player (1943, '46 and '47). He had a celebrated career as Illinois' head coach, compiling a 515-393-6 mark in 27 seasons. He had 41 more wins than Itch Jones (474 in 15 years) and 201 more than George Huff (314 in 23 years). Eilbracht's Illini teams won four Big Ten titles. Fourteen of his Illinois players eventually went on to play Major League Baseball:

Ethan Blackaby: Milwaukee-NL (1962-64) ... Career: .120 average, 0 HR, 1 RBI

Bob Burda: St. Louis (1962 and '71); San Francisco (1965-66, 1969-70); Milwaukee-AL (1970); Boston (1972) ... Career: .224 average, 13 HR, 78 RBI

John Felske: Chicago-NL (1968) and Milwaukee-AL (1972-73) ... Career: .135 average, 1 HR, 9 RBI

Tom Fletcher: Detroit (1962) ... Career: 1 game

Tom Haller: San Francisco (1961-67); Los Angeles-NL (1968-71); Detroit (1972) ... Career: .257 average, 134 HR, 504 RBI

Jim Hicks: Chicago-AL (1964-66); St. Louis (1969); California (1969) ... Career: .163 average, 5 HR, 14 RBI

Ken Holtzman: Chicago-NL (1965-71, '78); Oakland (1972-75); New York-AL (1976-77) ... Career: 174-150, 3.49 ERA

Dick Hyde: Washington (1955-60); Baltimore (61) ... Career: 17-14, 3.56 ERA

Bobby Klaus: Cincinnati (1964) and N.Y. Mets (1964-65) ... Career: .208 average, 6 HR, 29 RBI

Gary Kolb: St. Louis (1960, 62-63); Milwaukee-NL (1964-65); New York-NL (1965); Pittsburgh (1968-69) ... Career: .209 average, 6 HR, 29 RBI

Em Lindbeck: Detroit (1960) ... Career: 2 games

Herb Plews: Washington (1956-59) and Boston (1959) ... Career: .262 average, 4 HR, 82 RBI

Lou Skizas: New York-AL (1956); Kansas City (1956-57); Detroit (1958); Chicago-AL (1959) ... Career: .270 average, 30 HR, 86 RBI

Ed Spiezio: St. Louis (1964-68); San Diego (1969-72) and Chicago-AL (1972) ... Career: .238 average, 39 HR, 174 RBI

Illini birthdays this week

Today: Andy Schutzenhofer, baseball (29)

Monday: Mark Ogren, golf (25)

Tuesday: Gary Moeller, football coach (69)

Wednesday: Paul Marsillo, baseball (52)

Thursday: Marcus Arnold, basketball (26)

Friday: John Lockhart, wrestling (31)

Saturday: Roger Taylor, basketball (73)

Next Sunday: 1998 Big Ten champs

By Mike Pearson, author of Illini Legends, Lists & Lore and assistant athletic director at Miami (Ohio)