Leland Huffield Dunham (June 9, 1902 – May 11, 1961) was a

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

. He played for the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

in 1926.

Biography

Dunham was born in

Atlanta, Illinois Atlanta (formerly Xenia) is a city in Logan County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,692 at the 2010 census. History The community was incorporated on March 26, 1853. Geography According to the 2010 census, Atlanta has a total area ...

. After attending college, he started his professional baseball career in 1925 with the

Binghamton Triplets The Binghamton Triplets were a minor league baseball team based in Binghamton, New York between 1923 and 1963. The franchise played as members of the New York–Penn League (1923–1937), Eastern League (1938–1963), New York–Penn League (19 ...

of the New York-Pennsylvania League. He batted .334, which was the highest on his team. The following season, Dunham earned a roster spot with the Philadelphia Phillies. He got into five games in April and May, getting one hit and driving in one run in four at-bats. He finished the season with the

Virginia League The Virginia League was a minor league baseball affiliation which operated in Virginia and North Carolina from 1906 to 1928. It was classified as a "C" league from 1906 to 1919 and as a "B" league from 1920 to 1928. The most famous alumni to c ...

's Wilson Bugs and batted .300 for them."Lee Dunham Minor League Statistics & History"
''baseball-reference.com''. Retrieved 2010-11-17. Dunham played until 1932. Over 910 career minor league games, he had 1,024 hits and a .310

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 ...

. Dunham died in 1961, in Atlanta, Illinois, at the age of 58.

References

External links

Baseball Almanac
1902 births 1961 deaths Major League Baseball first basemen Philadelphia Phillies players Binghamton Triplets players Wilson Bugs players York White Roses players Springfield Senators players Baseball players from Illinois People from Atlanta, Illinois County judges in the United States {{baseball-first-baseman-stub