Henry Cooke "Irish" McIlveen (July 27, 1880 – October 18, 1960), commonly nicknamed "Irish" because he was born in
Belfast
Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...
,
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
, was a Major League Baseball outfielder. He played for the
Pittsburgh Pirates in 1906 and the
New York Highlanders
The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one o ...
in 1908–1909.
Early life
McIlveen was born in Belfast on July 27, 1880, and was the son of John J McIlveen and his wife Jemima Lavery. His father was from Dromara in County Down, his mother was from Belfast and they had eleven children. The family emigrated from Ulster to America in the late 1880s and settled in the Pittsburgh area in Pennsylvania. McIlveen attended
Penn State University.
Baseball career
On July 10, 1906, McIlveen made his big league debut. He would end up hitting for a .215
batting average
Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic.
Cricket
In cricket, a player's batting average is ...
in 53 games over a three-year career. McIlveen did not play in the Majors in 1907. In 1906, McIlveen pitched in 2 games for an ERA of 7.71. In the field, he made four errors for a .951 career
fielding percentage. McIlveen played his final game on May 9, 1909.
He was 5 feet, 11.5 inches tall and 180 pounds in weight. He also threw and batted left-handed.
Death
McIlveen died on October 18, 1960, in
Lorain, Ohio, aged 80. His body is buried at
Ridge Hill Memorial Park in Lorain.
Sources
{{DEFAULTSORT:McIlveen, Irish
1880 births
1960 deaths
Irish emigrants to the United States (before 1923)
Major League Baseball players from the United Kingdom
Major League Baseball players from Northern Ireland
Northern Irish baseball players
Pennsylvania State University alumni
Penn State Nittany Lions baseball players
Sportspeople from Belfast
Sportspeople from Lorain, Ohio
Pittsburgh Pirates players
New York Highlanders players
Major League Baseball right fielders
Steubenville Stubs players
Newark Indians players