Henry Cooke "Irish" McIlveen (July 27, 1880 – October 18, 1960), commonly nicknamed "Irish" because he was born in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

, was a Major League Baseball outfielder. He played for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1906 and the New York Highlanders in 1908–1909.

Early life

McIlveen was born in Belfast (today in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

) 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 in 53 games over a three-year career. McIlveen did not play in the Majors in 1907. In 1906, McIlveen pitched in two 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 Major League Baseball players from Ireland Irish baseball players Pennsylvania State University alumni Penn State Nittany Lions baseball players Sportspeople from Belfast Baseball players from Pittsburgh Sportspeople from Lorain, Ohio Pittsburgh Pirates players New York Highlanders players Major League Baseball right fielders Steubenville Stubs players Newark Indians players