Lee Paul Eilbracht (March 22, 1924 – January 2, 2013) was an American

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

coach and player in the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

organization.

Biography

Born in

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

, Eilbracht was raised in

Waterloo, Illinois Waterloo is a city in and county seat of Monroe County, Illinois. The population was 9,811 at the 2010 census. Geography Waterloo is located at (38.335243, -90.152685). According to the 2010 census, Waterloo has a total area of , of which (or ...

. Eilbracht is the winningest coach in

Illinois Fighting Illini baseball The Illinois Fighting Illini baseball team is the varsity intercollegiate athletic team of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in Champaign, Illinois, United States. The team competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Div ...

history and earned

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

honors as a collegiate player. Swami, as he was dubbed, posted a 518–395 record in 27 seasons at the helm from 1952 through 1978, winning four

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

titles while leading his team to the NCAA District Playoffs three times. As an Illini

catcher Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...

, Eilbracht was a three-time letterwinner in 1943 and from 1946 to 1947. Moreover, he garnered Most Valuable Player in these last seasons and topped the Big Ten in hitting in 1946 with a .484

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 between, he served in the Army during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

before returning to the University of Illinois. After graduation, Eilbracht pursued a professional career as a player and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

in the Chicago Cubs

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 ...

system from 1947 to 1952. Eilbracht hit .282 with 30

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s in 391 games at three different levels.Baseball Reference – Minor League Baseball Statistics
/ref> He was a player-manager of the Clinton Cubs for part of the 1948 season when they won the

Central Association The Central Association was an American minor league baseball league. It began operations in 1908, as it was essentially renamed from the 1907 Iowa State League. The Central Association ran continuously through 1917. It was reorganized thirty yea ...

title, and then served as player-manager for the

Sioux Falls Canaries The Sioux Falls Canaries are a professional baseball team based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, United States. The Canaries are members of the North Division of the American Association of Professional Baseball, an official Partner League of Major L ...

from mid-1949 to mid-1951. He ended his playing career with the

Danville Dans The Danville Dans are a collegiate summer league baseball team located in Danville, Illinois. The team plays in the Prospect League, which their former league, the NCAA-sanctioned Central Illinois Collegiate League, was absorbed into after the 20 ...

in 1952. Following the death of Illini head coach

Wally Roettger Walter Henry Roettger (August 28, 1902 – September 14, 1951) was an American professional baseball player who was an outfielder in the major leagues from to . He played for the St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds, New York Giants and Pitt ...

in 1951, Eilbracht took charge of the team a year later. Eilbracht served as an assistant coach for the United States team that played

baseball at the 1964 Summer Olympics Baseball at the 1964 Summer Olympics was a demonstration sport and consisted of a single game. It was the fifth time that a baseball exhibition had been held, and was the last time that only one game was played. Game The U.S. team of college ba ...

as a

demonstration sport A demonstration sport, or exhibition sport, is a sport which is played to promote it, rather than as part of standard medal competition. This occurs commonly during the Olympic Games, but may also occur at other sporting events. Demonstration spor ...

in Tokyo. He also served as the first executive director for the

American Baseball Coaches Association The American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) is the world's largest amateur baseball coaching organization. It was founded in 1945 as the American Association of College Baseball Coaches. Now, the ABCA is composed of over 13,000 baseball coac ...

, retiring after the 1978 season. He then worked as an analyst on Illini baseball broadcasts starting in the 1990s, and acted as a consultant for the

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks (colloquially known as the D-backs) are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The f ...

during several

spring training Spring training is the preseason in Major League Baseball (MLB), a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for Schedule (workplace), roster and position spo ...

s. Additionally, he worked as an adviser and had a small part in the 1992 film ''

A League of Their Own ''A League of Their Own'' is a 1992 American sports comedy-drama film directed by Penny Marshall that tells a fictionalized account of the real-life All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). The film stars Tom Hanks, Geena Dav ...

''. Eilbracht was a long-time resident of

Savoy, Illinois Savoy is a village in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 8,857 at the 2020 census. History The village was named after Princess Maria Clotilde of Savoy, who had paid the area a visit in 1861. Henry M. Dunlap (1853-1938) ...

, where he died in 2013 at the age of 88.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Eilbracht, Lee 1924 births 2013 deaths All-American college baseball players Baseball catchers Baseball players from St. Louis Clinton Cubs players Danville Dans players Davenport Cubs players Decatur Commodores players Illinois Fighting Illini baseball coaches Illinois Fighting Illini baseball players Minor league baseball managers Selma Cloverleafs players Sioux Falls Canaries managers Sportspeople from Illinois People from Savoy, Illinois People from Waterloo, Illinois United States Army personnel of World War II