Emil Verban

Emil Matthew Verban was a second baseman in Major League Baseball who played from 1944 to 1950. Born in Lincoln, Illinois, in 1915, he reached the majors at age 28 with the St. Louis Cardinals and won a World Series in his rookie season of 1944. He went on to play for the Philadelphia Phillies (1946–1948), the Chicago Cubs (1948–1950) and the Boston Braves (1950). Over seven seasons Verban compiled a .272 batting average with 793 career hits, and he was selected to the National League All-Star team twice. He hit only one home run in his major league career, connecting in September 1948 after more than 2,500 prior at-bats without one. In 1975, a group of Chicago Cubs fans based in Washington, D.C. formed the Emil Verban Memorial Society, named for him as a representative of the competent but unheralded player. Verban died in 1989.