Drafted with an extra pick, Bags did his magic off the bench for three years, before earning a regular job as the Champions starting firstbaseman. All he did in his first year as a regular in 1995 was win the MVP, batting .380, with 52 homers, 58 doubles, 97 walks, 20 steals, 116 RBIs, and an amazing 157 runs scored, leading his ballclub to a first place finish, and the first of back-to-back championships. In eight straight years he scored over 100 runs. Jeff played his entire 14 year career with Chicago, finishing with 1,405 runs, 431 home runs, 1,126 RBIs, 1,131 walks, 180 stolen bases, a .286 batting average, and an OBP of .392. Not bad for a player drafted to beef up his team’s bench.
“Founding member of the Illowa APBA League and President for many years, Mike has had a direct impact on the IAL. As President, his selfless devotion of his time, energy, and talents as well as his sense of fairness have made the IAL what it is today. In addition, his baseball knowledge, amiability and good humor have made Mike a distinguished part of this League.”
In addition to playing a difficult position like secondbase well, Whitaker put together some pretty good numbers. Along with his 249 homeruns, he was 11th all time in runs scored, and 9th in doubles with 453, at the time of his induction.
If anyone epitomized the Chicago Champions and their dynasty, it was Mike Schmidt, a charter member of the Hall. Until recently, Schmidty was the homerun king with 535 lifetime dingers. He finished his career with 1,400 runs scored and 1,468 RBIs. Mike was the backbone of the Chicago Champions team that won seven championships.
Stieb was seventh in wins, at the time of his induction, with a 181-114 record, a .614 winning percentage, and a nifty 3.60 ERA. He won 96 games, completing 65 of 182 starts, in a span of five years with the Champions and Mercenaries (1982-1986). A workhorse, he pitched over 240 innings in four of those years. Dave’s winning ways contributed him to being on six championship ballclubs, with three different teams (2 each for the Champions, Mercenaries, & Cardinals), in 14 seasons.
Cal “Iron Man” Ripken, Jr. played every game and usually every inning from 1984 to 1999. During this tenure, Ripken helped lead the Chicago Champions to six IAL World Championships. Cal belied the image of a no-hit shortstop and hit over 30 homeruns in a season six times and drove in 100 runs five times. He is the IAL all-time leader in hits (2,843), rbis (1,652), games played (2,935), and at-bats (10,822). At the time of his induction, Ripken was 5th all-time in homeruns with 468, 2nd in doubles with 562 and 6th in runs with 1,391.
For years, Rice held the single season record for most home runs hit when he hit 66 in 1979. In that MVP season Jim also had 125 rbis and 129 runs that year, mostly batting out of the leadoff spot, he ended the season with 34 at bats leftover, Champs won the Championship, finished in 1st place, and won 99 ballgames. He was partially responsible for the Chicago Champions’ first place finish in 1984, another MVP season for Rice, when he hit 59 homeruns with an amazing 154 rbis with 139 runs scored. Jim was a part of six championship teams with the Champions.
A Hitmen throughout his career, Murphy hit more than 30 home runs and 100 rbis for 6 straight years (1983-1988) and ended up with 339 for his career. In 1981 Dale, with 127 RBIs, was the driving force behind the Northside team that won the IAL Championship.
Another journeyman of sorts (traded 8 times), Molitor nevertheless had a great career. At the time of his induction he was third all time in hits with 2,596 and second in runs with 1,567. In his 20 year career, Paul scored more than 100 runs six times, stole 544 bases in his career, finished with a .295 batting average, and was a member of four Championship ballclubs.
Drafted by the Twin City Thunderchickens in 1988, Mark McGwire hit 54 homeruns (a rookie record) and drove in 166 runs in addition to hitting .314 and scoring 122 runs.
In 1999 everything seemed to go right, McGwire had a monster year, he entered the last game of the season tied with Rafael Palmeiro for the IAL single season record of homeruns with 69, Mark hit #70 in his last at bat. In addition, he had career highs in runs (138), rbis (174), and walks (152). The Twin City Thunderchickens were spirited away to victory, with a 2nd place finish, and an IAL World Championship.
It would seem difficult to repeat the excitement of 1999’s homerun race, but McGwire didn’t disappoint in 2000. Once again, he entered game 162 tied with the record he had set the year prior. And once again, dramatics prevailed as he waited until his very last at-bat of the season to break his own record. That record stands today. McGwire also banged out 159 rbis to go with his 71 homeruns.
In 2002, McGwire hit a homerun in his last at-bat of his career.
Mark McGwire finished with 591 career homeruns, second all-time. At the time of his induction he was 6th in RBIs with 1,436, fourth in walks with 1,162, and was third in slugging percentage.
ial hall of fame | Thomas Nelshoppen December 10, 2009 | 
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