All-Time Illini in the World Series

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- This year's World Series participants are facing two of the longest championship droughts in sports and each of their last titles involved former Illinois baseball stars. The Cleveland Indians last World Series ring was won in 1948 under player/manager and all-time Illini great Lou Boudreau, while the Chicago Cubs are seeking their first championship since 1908, when former Illinois captain Carl Lundgren was a starting pitcher for the North Siders.

Lou Boudreau and the 1948 Cleveland Indians

Boudreau won the 1948 MVP award and helped Cleveland beat the Boston Braves to claim the franchise's first World Series title since 1920. Boudreau was one of six future Hall of Famers on the Indians' roster, including Larry Doby, Bob Feller, Joe Gordon, Bob Lemon and Satchel Paige.

Boudreau hit .273 (6-22) in the World Series with four doubles and three RBIs, while also handling the managerial decisions. Cleveland clinched the series with a 4-2 win in Game 6 at Braves Field in Boston.

Boudreau is the only Illinois baseball player to be enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. The Fighting Illini retired Boudreau's No. 5 on April 18, 1992 and he is still the only baseball player with his number retired on the outfield wall at Illinois Field.

Carl Lundgren and the 1908 Chicago Cubs

Lundgren, a civil engineering graduate, won a Big Ten baseball championship in 1900 and was on World Series title teams in 1907 and 1908 with the Cubs. He also starred on the Illini football team as a halfback and was involved in campus government.

Although Lundgren never threw in the World Series because he was behind the likes of Mordecai Brown and Orval Overall in the rotation, he helped the Cubs get there with some stellar seasons. The Marengo, Illinois, native went 91-55 in eight years with Chicago, including seven shutouts in 1907. 

Lundgren was not only a fine pitcher but was also an above-average student. The Daily Illini said that, "the Cubs had a new pitcher, and the world lost a civil engineer," [W.H Beatty, 1923] when he chose to pursue baseball.

"Lundy," as he was called, turned his baseball knowledge into another career at the conclusion of his playing days. He went on to become the baseball coach at Michigan before returning to Illinois for a 14-year run as the head skipper. After guiding Michigan to three consecutive conference championships, his Illini teams went 209-78-14 with Big Ten titles in 1921, 1922, 1927, 1931 and 1934.

Photos courtesy Getty Images, Library of Congress