Henry John Keupper (July 24, 1887 – August 14, 1960), was a professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

player who played

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

in the Major Leagues in . He would play for the

St. Louis Terriers The St. Louis Terriers were a baseball club that played in the short-lived Federal League in and . They played their home games at Handlan's Park. The team was owned by ice magnate Phil Ball, who later was owner of the St. Louis Browns. In thei ...

. Keupper played

semi-professional Semi-professional sports are sports in which athletes are not participating on a full-time basis, but still receive some payment. Semi-professionals are not amateur because they receive regular payment from their team, but generally at a consid ...

baseball in

Southern Illinois Southern Illinois, also known as Little Egypt, is the southern third of Illinois, principally along and south of Interstate 64. Although part of a Midwestern United States, Midwestern state, this region is aligned in culture more with that of th ...

until friends recommended him to

Frank Donnelly Franklin Marion Donnelly (October 7, 1869 – February 3, 1953) was a professional baseball player. He was a right-handed pitcher for parts of two seasons (1893–94) with the Chicago Colts. For his career, he compiled a 3–1 record in 7 appear ...

, manager of the Peoria Distillers, who happened to be in Southern Illinois on a hunting trip. His proponents compared him to

Orval Overall Orval Overall (February 2, 1881 – July 14, 1947) was an American pitcher in Major League Baseball. He was a member of the Chicago Cubs dynasty of the early 1900s, making eight appearances for the Cubs in the World Series, including five as the ...

and Donnelly gave him his first job in professional baseball with the Distillers.

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1887 births 1960 deaths Major League Baseball pitchers St. Louis Terriers players Peoria Distillers players Nashville Vols players Chattanooga Lookouts players Bloomington Bloomers players People from Staunton, Illinois Indianapolis Indians players {{US-baseball-pitcher-1880s-stub