Danville Old Soldiers
The Danville Old Soldiers were a team in the Kitty League for only one season, 1906. Professional baseball in Danville, Illinois had been around since the 1888 season when the Danville Browns had played two seasons. The first season was in the Central Interstate League and the second was in the Illinois-Indiana League. After those two seasons, it was another 11 years before the Danville Champions had a one year run in 1900.
After 1900 there was another six year hiatus before the citizens of Danville enjoyed one year of the Danville Old Soldiers. Perhaps the most interesting thing about this 1906 team was their name as they put up a pedestrian 58-69 record and it doesn’t appear any of the players went on to major leagues. The fabulously named Pearl Holycross in his first (and best) of his five seasons as a minor leaguer, doing double duty as a pitcher and an outfielder. On the mound he posted a 19-9 record while at the plate he batted .271 in 177 plate appearances.
The name of the team appears to have come from the fact that there was a Disabled Old Soldiers home in Danville, probably Union soldiers from the Civil War.
Baseball kept tenaciously coming back in Danville over the 20th Century, even if no single edition of any team lasted more than 10 years. That team was the Danville Veterans (another play on that old soldiers home) that played in the Three-I League from 1922-1932. Other team that would play in Danville would go by the Dodgers, the Dans, the Speakers, the Warriors and lastly for one season (and the last to date for Danville) in 1982, the Danville Suns. That team moved to Peoria after one season, and still exists, playing in the Midwest League as the Peoria Chiefs.
