Baseball - Illini in the World Series - University of Illinois Athletics

University of Illinois Athletics

Fighting Illini in the World Series

Scott Spiezio // Anaheim, 2002 (W) // St. Louis, 2006 (W)
Spiezio won two World Series rings, first with the Anaheim Angels and then with the St. Louis Cardinals. He was a starter on the Angels squad a contributed a momentum-swinging three-run home run in the seventh inning of Game 6. The blast made the score 5-3 in an eventual Angels win, as the team went on to win Game 7. Spiezio played in 119 games for the 2006 Cardinals, batting .272 with 13 home runs and 52 RBI.

Year	Team	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	AVG
2002	Anaheim (vs. San Francisco)	7	23	3	6	1	8	.261
2006	St. Louis (vs. Detroit)	2	4	0	0	0	0	.000

Ken Holtzman // Oakland, 1972 (W), 1973 (W), 1974 (W)
Holtzman was a big part of Oakland's three-peat in the 1970's. The lefty, who played one year in Champaign and was the team MVP, went 4-1 in his World Series career, while throwing 35.1 innings. He struck out 20 batters as the A's beat the Reds, Mets and Dodgers. The A's stood as the last team to three-peat until the Yankees won World Series crowns in 1998-2000.

Year	Team	G	W	L	ERA	IP	SO	BB
1972	Oakland (vs. Cincinnati)	3	1	0	2.13	12.2	4	3
1973	Oakland (vs. New York Mets)	3	2	1	4.22	10.2	6	5
1974	Oakland (vs. Los Angeles Dodgers)	2	1	0	1.50	12.0	10	4

Ed Spiezio // St. Louis, 1967 (W), 1968 (L)
Spiezio was a reserve for the 1967 and 1968 Cardinals teams that reached the World Series. He was 30-for-156 while appearing in 84 games during the two-year run, as part of five seasons in St. Louis. After a stop in San Diego, Spiezio retired with a .238 career batting average in 554 games in nine MLB seasons.

Year	Team	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	AVG
1967	St. Louis (vs. Boston)	1	1	0	0	0	0	.000
1968	St. Louis (vs. Detroit)	1	1	0	1	0	0	1.000

Tom Haller // San Francisco, 1962 (L)
Haller reached the World Series in just his second of 12 MLB seasons, but his Giants lost to the Yankees in seven games. Haller homered over the right field wall at Yankee Stadium off of Whitey Ford in Game 4 to give San Francisco a 2-0 lead in an eventual 7-3 win. The left-handed hitting catcher went on to make three All-Star Games (1966-68) and hit .257 in 1,294 MLB games.

Year	Team	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	AVG
1962	San Francisco (vs. New York Yankees)	4	14	1	4	1	3	.286

Lou Boudreau // Cleveland, 1948 (W)
Boudreau led the Indians to a World Series title in 1948, hitting .355 with 18 homers and 106 RBI and earning The Sporting News Major League Player of the Year and American League Most Valuable Player honors. In his 15-year MLB playing career, Boudreau hit .295 with 68 homers and 789 RBI. He was a seven-time All-Star and won the 1948 MVP Award. Boudreau had his No. 5 retired at Illinois April 18, 1992.

Year	Team	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	AVG
1948	Cleveland (vs. Boston Braves)	6	22	1	6	0	3	.273

Wally Roettger // St. Louis, 1931 (W)
Roettger won a ring with St. Louis in 1931, after being traded from Cincinnati Reds June 15, 1931. He went 2-5 in Game 1, getting a hit off of Lefty Grove and scoring the first run of the 1931 World Series. Roettger went on to become the head baseball coach at Illinois from 1935-51 and an assistant basketball coach from 1936-49.

Year	Team	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	AVG
1931	St. Louis (vs. Philadelphia A's)	3	14	1	4	0	0	.286

Garland "Jake" Stahl // Boston, 1912 (W)
Stahl became the first player from Illinois to appear in a World Series game when he was a player/manager for the Boston Red Sox in 1912. The series went eight games, one more than allotted because Game 2 was tied 6-6 in the 11th inning before being cancelled. Stahl's Sox scored two runs off of Christy Mathewson in the bottom of the 10th inning of Game 8 to beat the New York Giants and claim the team's second World Series title.

Year	Team	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	AVG
1912	Boston (vs. New York Giants)	8	32	3	8	0	2	.250

Carl Lundgren // Chicago (NL), 1907 (W), 1908 (W)
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. 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.