The Kankakee Kanks were a

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...

baseball team located in

Kankakee, Illinois Kankakee is a city in and the county seat of Kankakee County, Illinois, United States. As of 2020, the city's population was 24,052. Kankakee is a principal city of the Kankakee-Bourbonnais-Bradley Metropolitan Statistical Area. It serves as an ...

. Kankakee teams played a member of the Class D level

Northern Association The Northern Association was a Class D level minor league. It began and ended play in 1910, disbanding on July 19, 1910. The Joliet club moved to Sterling on June 21. The Clinton and Freeport teams disbanded on June 28; The Elgin and Kankakee fran ...

in 1910, playing as the Kankakee "Kays" and the Illinois-Missouri League from 1912 to 1914. The Kankakee teams hosted home minor league games on the grounds of the Kankakee State Hospital.

Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...

inductee Casey Stengel played for the 1910 Kankakee Kays, beginning his first professional season.

History

Northern Association 1910

Minor league baseball began in Kankakee, Illinois in 1910, when the Kankakee Kays team became charter members of the Class D level

. The

Clinton Teddies Clinton is an English toponymic surname, indicating one's ancestors came from English places called Glympton or Glinton.Hanks, P. & Hodges, F. ''A Dictionary of Surnames''. Oxford University Press, 1988 Clinton has frequently been used as a give ...

, Decatur Commodores,

Elgin Kittens Elgin may refer to: Places Canada * Elgin County, Ontario * Elgin Settlement, a 19th-century community for freed slaves located in present-day North Buxton and South Buxton, Chatham-Kent, Ontario * Elgin, a village in Rideau Lakes, Ontario * ...

Freeport Pretzels The Freeport Pretzels were a minor league baseball franchise based in Freeport, Illinois. Between 1908 and 1915, Freeport teams played as members of the Wisconsin State League (1905–1907), Wisconsin-Illinois League (1908–1909), 1910 Northern A ...

Jacksonville Jacks Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the c ...

Joliet Jolly-ites Joliet or Jolliet may refer to: People * Louis Jolliet (1645–1700), French-Canadian explorer of North America * Oscar Joliet (1878–1969), Belgian scholar-priest and Catholic Auxiliary bishop of Ghent Places in the United States * Joliet, Il ...

and

Muscatine Pearl Finders Muscatine may refer to: People * Charles Muscatine, scholar of medieval literature * Lissa Muscatine Places * Muscatine County, Iowa * Muscatine, Iowa (County Seat) * Muscatine, Iowa micropolitan area Other * Louisa–Muscatine Community School D ...

teams Joined Kankakee as the charter members of the eight–team league, which began play on May 10,1910. In their first season of minor league play, the Kankakee franchise folded during the season. On July 11, 1910, the Kankakee Kays were in third place with a 34–24 record under manager Dan Collins when the franchise disbanded. The Elgin Kittens franchise disbanded on the same day. Less than a week later, the Northern Association completely disbanded on July 17, 1910.

Casey Stengel

inductee Casey Stengel made his professional debut for the Kays, playing his first professional game in the season opener on May 10, 1910. At age 19, Stengel hit .251 with one home run, playing in 59 games for Kankakee. In talking about playing in Kankakee Casey Stengel said, "We did not draw (fans) and getting paid was quite an adventure." Stengel claimed he had received only half of his $135 per month check when Kankakee had folded in July 1910. Years later, at his birthday party in 1956, the Kankakee Federal Savings and Loan Association presented Stengel with a check. The check was for $483.05, calculated off the original $67.50 owed, plus interest accrued over 46 years. Stengel donated the gift to the Kankakee Little League.

Illinois–Missouri League 1912 to 1914

After the Kankakee Kays folded following the 1910 season, minor league baseball returned for the 1912 season. On May 16, 1912, the

Clinton Champs Clinton is an English toponymic surname, indicating one's ancestors came from English places called Glympton or Glinton.Hanks, P. & Hodges, F. ''A Dictionary of Surnames''. Oxford University Press, 1988 Clinton has frequently been used as a given ...

from Clinton, Iowa, members of the Illinois-Missouri League, moved the franchise to Kankakee with a 2–5 record. The Mississippi River flood of 1912 corresponds with the Clinton franchise relocation that year. Playing the remainder of the 1912 season as the Kankakee Kanks, the team compiled a record of 54–51 while based in Kankakee. The Clinton/Kankakee team finished with an overall record of 56–56, placing fourth in the 1912 Illinois-Missouri League playing under managers Claude Suttles and Fred Wilson. The Kanks joined Illinois–Missouri League members

Canton Highlanders Canton may refer to: Administrative division terminology * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and ent ...

Champaign Velvets Champaign ( ) is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 88,302 at the 2020 census. It is the tenth-most populous municipality in Illinois and the fourth most populous city in Illinois outside the Chicago metropo ...

Lincoln Abes The Lincoln Abes were a minor league baseball team based in Lincoln, Illinois. From 1910 to 1914, the Abes played as members of the Class D level Illinois-Missouri League. Lincoln won consecutive league championships in 1912 and 1913 and wer ...

Pekin Celestials The Pekin Celestials were an Illinois–Missouri League baseball team based in Pekin, Illinois, USA that played from 1909 to 1913. In their very first season, the Celestials had four different managers. Two future major league baseball players pl ...

and

Streator Speedboys Streator is a city in LaSalle and Livingston counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. The city is situated on the Vermilion River approximately southwest of Chicago in the prairie and farm land of north-central Illinois. As of the 2020 censu ...

in 1912 league play. Continuing play in the 1913 Illinois–Missouri League, the Kanks finished in third place. With a 35–51 record under manager Red Kelly, Kankakee finished the season 23.5 games behind the first place Lincoln Abes in the six–team league final standings. A.J. Holtzhouser of Kankakee led the Illinois-Missouri League with 118 total hits. In their final season of minor league play, the 1914 Kankakee Kanks folded before the end of the season. On July 3, 1914, Kankakee had a record of 14–33 when the franchise permanently disbanded. At the time they folded, Kankakee was 17.5 games behind the first place Lincoln Abes, who folded the same day. Kankakee played in 1914 under managers Harry Randall, Gene Connelly, Teddy Raines and William Hinley. The Illinois–Missouri League finished the 1914 season without the Kankakee and Lincoln teams. The Illinois–Missouri League permanently disbanded after the 1914 season. Kankakee, Illinois has not hosted another minor league team. Kankakee Hospital

The ballpark

Kankakee minor league teams played home games at the ballpark adjacent to the

Kankakee State Hospital Samuel H. Shapiro Developmental Center, formerly named the Kankakee State Hospital, is a developmental center in Kankakee, Illinois, on the banks of the Kankakee River. History In 1877, the General Assembly established the Illinois Eastern Hospit ...

. The ballpark had hosted a game featuring the Leland Giants against a hospital sponsored team in 1907. Because of the ballpark location, patients at the hospital could watch games from the hospital windows. Today, the hospital location is 100 E. Jeffery Street.

Timeline

Year–by–year records

Notable alumni

* Casey Stengel (1910) Inducted

, 1966 * George Hale (1912) *

Elmer Jacobs William Elmer Jacobs (August 10, 1892 – February 10, 1958) was a pitcher in Major League Baseball from 1914 to 1927. He played for the Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs, and Chicago White Sox. Jacobs' ...

(1912) * Bobby Veach (1910) 3x AL RBI leader *

Bob Wright Robert Charles Wright (born April 23, 1943) is an American lawyer, businessman, right-wing lobbyist, and author. He is a former NBC executive, having served as president and CEO from 1986 to 2001, and chairman and CEO from 2001 until he retire ...

(1913)

References

{{Reflist, 2

External links

Kankakee - Baseball Reference
Kankakee, Illinois Defunct minor league baseball teams Defunct baseball teams in Illinois Baseball teams established in 1912 Baseball teams disestablished in 1914 1912 establishments in Illinois 1914 disestablishments in Illinois Defunct sports clubs and teams in Illinois Professional baseball teams in Illinois Illinois-Missouri League teams