About 20,000 men and women have played at the highest level of professional baseball in the U.S. available to them at their time in the nearly 190 years since the game was first played.

Five of those players – four men and one woman – were born in Lee County.

The playing careers of Lou Bevilacqua of Nelson, George Bristow of Paw Paw, Betty Degner of Amboy, Leroy Herrmann of Steward and Frank Shaughnessy of Amboy didn’t make as many headlines as some of their more famous teammates, but their journeys to the big leagues have their own interesting and unique tales to tell.

Their stories began on rural Lee County farms and fields, and left local legacies that still inspire players today.

The quintet’s careers took place at different stages in the game’s history, from the game’s expansion of professional teams during the turn of the 20th century, to when the New York Yankees were far and above baseball’s best dynasty, to a fledgling period when one’s gender or race didn’t stop them from attaining the recognition that only white men had enjoyed in newspapers’ sports pages.

Other major league players have at one time called Lee County home, but were not born there, including names familiar to Dixon, such as Stan Hack and Ward Miller.

Another former major league player, Joe Zdeb, also called Lee County home, but wasn’t born here. He hailed from Mendota in La Salle County and lived in Compton as a youth before moving to Hoffman Estates; Zdeb played for the Kansas City Royals from 1977 to 79.

While stats are usually the first thing researchers look at when learning about a player, the numbers don’t add up to the whole picture – there are stories behind those facts and figures. One can only wonder what their experiences were like being in the same dugouts as some of baseball’s greats.

Let’s look back on the careers of the five aforementioned pro players who were born in Lee County, and tell the stories behind the stats. So sit back with some peanuts and Cracker Jacks, and let us take you out to the ballpark.

Lou Bevilacqua

The son of Italian immigrants, Bevilacqua’s abilities as an athlete were noteworthy during his time as a Dixon High School student in the late 1930s, where he is enshrined in its sports Hall of Fame. The Bevilacquas lived in Nelson, where his father Luigi worked for the Chicago and North Western Railroad and mother Victoria operated a restaurant in Rock Falls.

Born Nov. 27, 1922, Bevilacqua graduated from high school in 1939 and attended the University of Notre Dame, where he pitched for the Fighting Irish for one season before embarking on a professional baseball career. He pitched for the Deland Red Hats of the Florida State League in 1940, the Thomasville Lookouts of the Florida-Georgia League in 1941 and then the Chattanooga Lookouts of the Southern Association throughout most of 1942 before his brief call-up to the major leagues with the Washington Senators in September of that year.

Before a June 8 start in Chattanooga, he learned his father had died. Bevilacqua started anyway and led the Lookouts to a win both on the mound and at bat, where he drove in two runs. After the game, his father’s death was announced over the stadium’s loudspeaker, and members of both teams stood beside him for a brief moment of remembrance.

At only 19 years old, Bevilacqua made four appearances for the Senators in 1942, a year in which many major league players were called into service during World War II. On his Sept. 2 debut, he was given the start during a home game against the Chicago White Sox, but gave up four runs in his only inning of work. He made relief appearances on Sept. 6, 11 and 13 to close the season and finished with two strikeouts in 9.2 innings pitched. While with the Senators, he was managed by future hall of famer Bucky Harris, and was teammates with Early Wynn, another future hall of famer.

Bevilacqua eventually would serve in the military, as a tank commander in the European Theater. He returned to baseball in 1946 and played for minor league teams in Orlando and Daytona Beach, Florida, and Anniston, Alabama, until 1950.

For those looking for Bevilacqua in the record books and newspapers, you might not find him – unless you drop the “acqua.” Known in box scores as “Lou Bevil,” he worked for the railroad after baseball and died in 1973.

George Bristow

Paw Paw native George Bristow played three games for the 1899 Cleveland Spiders – one of the worst teams in baseball history. So bad, in fact, it folded after the season.

Bristow was born George Howlett on May 13, 1870, the oldest of three children to James and Sarah Howlett, who lived in the area known as Allen’s Grove near the present-day intersection of Howlett and Woodlawn roads. He changed his surname to Bristow at some point in his life.

Bristow’s only known record in the major leagues was playing for the 1899 Spiders, who won only 20 of 154 games. The outfielder made nine plate appearances and reached base only twice: He hit a double in one game and was hit by a pitch in another. In the minor leagues, he played for 10 clubs from 1894 to 1900, and seven more from 1903 to 1906 after moving to the West Coast. He hit his only known professional home run playing for Spokane of the Northwest League in 1906. Bristow also played for a local club in DeWitt, Iowa, immediately following his time with the Spiders, alongside his brother Wilbur.

The year before Bristow played in professional baseball, he was a member of the 1st Arkansas Volunteer Infantry’s band. The infantry was called into service during the Spanish-American War, but did not see any fighting. When Bristow died in Washington State in 1939, he was buried under a military headstone noting his role in the service.

Betty Degner

The only woman from Lee County to play professional baseball at the highest level available to women at the time, Degner played for the Muskegon, Michigan, Lassies and the Springfield, Illinois, Sallies of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League in 1949. The professional women’s league existed from 1943 to 1954, founded by Chicago Cubs owner Phillip Wrigley. Degner was among 600 women to have played in the league, which is perhaps best remembered today as the inspiration of the 1992 film “A League of Their Own.”

Degner was born on Dec. 27, 1930, to Raymond and Sara Degner in Amboy. She attended school in Lee Center, where she graduated from high school in the Class of 1948. By that time, she had established herself locally as a talented pitcher for local softball clubs.

Only a year after being in high school, Degner played in one game each for both of her professional clubs; the Lassies being one of the major teams in the league, and the Sallies being a rookie league one. She went 1-for-5 during her time at bat. Among her local softball feats was when she pitched a no-hitter in 1949 for the DeKalb Hybrids during a tournament in the Quad-Cities.

Degner died in 1993 after living in Washington D.C., Arizona and San Diego.

Leroy Herrmann

Of these five baseball players, Herrmann had the most accomplished playing career. The Steward native pitched all four years at Steward High School, winning all but two games before graduating in 1924. Just eight years after graduating, he would play a small role in helping the Chicago Cubs advance to the 1932 World Series.

Herrmann was born Feb. 27, 1906, to Henry and Martha Herrmann, the seventh of 10 children. The family lived 2 1/2 miles south of town on Steward Road. After high school, Herrmann played for St. Bede College in Peru before joining his first minor league team, the Moline Plowboys, in 1927. Herrmann also played in the minor leagues for teams in Des Moines, Los Angeles and Reading, Pennsylvania, before being called to play for the Cubs in 1932.

He appeared in seven games for the Cubs in 1932, earning a 2–1 record. His debut occurred on July 30 at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn against the Dodgers; he relieved Jackie May with two outs in the eighth inning and struck out the only batter he faced, Max Rosenfield, who was 3-for-4 at the plate before the at-bat. He also was retroactively credited with a save in one appearance (the statistic was not made official until 1969).

The Cubs finished the regular season at 90-64 and advanced to the World Series against the New York Yankees, who were led by Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. This series was notable for Ruth’s “called shot” home run during Game 3 at Wrigley Field. Herrmann didn’t see any playing time during the series, however. The season also was the rookie year for teammate Stan Hack, who later lived in and owned a restaurant in Grand Detour.

Herrmann saw more playing time in 1933, appearing in nine games and throwing 21 innings, while improving his ERA slightly to 5.57. That wasn’t enough to keep him on the Cubs roster for the following year, when he played for the San Francisco Seals and was a teammate of another Yankee legend, Joe DiMaggio.

In 1935, Herrmann’s major league career was resurrected in a starting role for the Cincinnati Reds. He appeared in 29 games and pitched every inning in two of them, finishing 3-5 with a 3.58 ERA. In a major league career spanning three seasons, Herrmann played in 45 games, threw 142 innings, struck out 39 batters and finished 5-7 with a 4.12 ERA.

Herrmann spent 1936 playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs of the American Association, and threw a no-hitter during one game. He finished his baseball career playing for minor league teams in California until 1940, and was living there when he died in 1972.

There was a lot of star power in the dugout during Herrmann’s time with the Cubs and Reds. He threw to Hall of Fame catcher Gabby Hartnett and later played alongside Joe DiMaggio with the Seals.

Herrmann’s lone year in the American Association was the first year in which an Amboy native and former major leaguer served as its president.

Frank “Shag” Shaughnessy

While Herrmann played in the most baseball games out of Lee County’s quintet of players, Shaughnessy by far had the most impressive resume throughout multiple sports.

The Amboy native left his legacy in baseball, football and hockey during a career in sports that led him to a well-known college football program, Major League Baseball, managerial success as a coach in Canada and enshrinement in the Canadian football and baseball halls of fame.

Born April 8, 1883, to Irish immigrants Patrick and Hanora Shaughnessy, young Frank cultivated his great interest in sports as a student at Amboy High, starting as a left tackle for a team that faced others from much larger cities throughout the season. Shaughnessy also played baseball for the Amboy city clubs, graduated from Amboy High in 1901 and played 4 years of baseball at the University of Notre Dame, where he was captain during his senior year. Shaughnessy also played some football for Notre Dame and has his name in the storied program’s history book as having the longest fumble return for a touchdown, at 107 yards (the fields in the early days were 110 yards from end to end).

His sports journey continued into adulthood, when he played two years of professional baseball for the Washington Senators in 1905 and the Philadelphia Athletics in 1908.

Shaughnessy’s lone appearance for the Senators on April 17, 1905, was rather uneventful. The right fielder went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts and was hit by a pitch. He went back to the minor leagues before being called up to the big leagues once again in early June 1908 by the Philadelphia Athletics.

Playing for legendary manager Connie Mack, and surrounded by Hall of Fame teammates Eddie Collins, Jimmy Collins, Eddie Plank and Chief Bender, Shaughnessy played in eight games at center field and was 9-for-29 at the plate (all singles) with one run batted in and three stolen bases.

Despite his decent .310 batting average, Shaughnessy wasn’t able to finish the year with the Athletics; he was traded to Reading of the Tri-State minor league in late June for Frank “Home Run” Baker, who would go on to have a Hall of Fame career with the A’s and Yankees.

Shaughnessy also had a long minor league career that lasted from 1903 to 1924. Along with his baseball endeavors, he coached in the collegiate football ranks at Clemson and McGill universities, and managed baseball teams for 10 minor league clubs from 1907 until 1936, when he became president of the International League (Herrmann being one of its players during his first year). He also coached hockey for McGill and for the original Ottawa Senators hockey club, which he led to the Stanley Cup final in 1915.

After a long administrative career that ended in 1960, Shaughnessy died on May 15, 1969, but he lived long enough to see his then-hometown of Montreal have its first season of a major league baseball team with the Expos. Shaughnessy is buried in Montreal; his parents are interned closer to home at St. Patrick Cemetery in Amboy.

Sources used to gather information for this story include Baseball Reference, the Society of American Baseball Research, Dixon baseball historian Mark Stach and Dixon Telegraph archives.