Illinois Baseball Report

A streak of fire, a breath of flame Eluding all who reach and clutch; A gray ghost thrown into the game That rival hands may never touch; A rubber bounding, blasting soul Whose destination is the goal — Red Grange of Illinois! Grantland Rice Permit me to go a little off topic today.  On this [...]

Filed under: Feature on November 21st, 2009 | Leave a Comment! »

A whimsical topic here.  How many of you pay attention to post-game music at Illinois Field?  You know, the song you hear as you are leaving the stands?  I always thought it had a good beat and wondered what it was.  I even asked a few in the know what it was to no avail.  [...]

Filed under: Uncategorized on November 21st, 2009 | Leave a Comment! »

It’s that time of year.  Since practice was over in early October, the coaching staff have been busy talking to possible recruits.  Now we get to see the fruits of their labor.  Last week, Coach Hartleb announced that six players have signed national letters of intent.  And let’s get this out of way… they’ve signed [...]

Filed under: Recruits on November 20th, 2009 | Leave a Comment! »

For those in the Champaign-Urbana area, the local Kiwanis chapter is putting on a “Sports Trivia Championship” on Sunday, January 31 at the Hilton Garden Inn.  The topics for the questions that will be asked seem to be locally driven: Illini basketball and football Cubs, Cardinals and White Sox Chicago Bears … and more I [...]

Filed under: Community stuff on November 18th, 2009 | Leave a Comment! »

Catching up on some long overdue news regarding Illini players who’ve gone on to the wild blue yonder otherwise known as the minor leagues: Scott Shaw, who was drafted by the New York Mets in the 2008 draft, had a pretty awesome 2009 for the Port St Lucie Mets.  Shaw led the Mets in many [...]

Filed under: Former Illini in the pros on November 14th, 2009 | 1 Comment »

Some news comes over the wire from the Daily Herald that informs us of Robby McDonnell’s verbal commitment to play for the University of Illinois.  McDonnell is a senior at Barrington (IL) High School.  He’s lefthanded pitcher and looks pretty good.  He’s certainly had interest from plenty of schools including Minnesota, Iowa, Miami (Ohio) and [...]

Filed under: Recruits on November 10th, 2009 | Leave a Comment! »

All these times I’ve crossed the cemetery on Florida Avenue on my way to Illinois Field to watch the Illini play, I never realized I was passing by the gravestone of a former major leaguer.  I learn from Kyle of the Chillini blog: Big Jeff (Pfeffer) was born and raised in Champaign and attended the [...]

Filed under: Feature on November 3rd, 2009 | Leave a Comment! »