McLeansboro Miners

McLeansboro, Illinois, has a brief but real history of minor league baseball. In 1910 the McLeansboro Merchants joined the start-up Southern Illinois League, a Class D circuit. That league didn't last long, and both the Merchants and the league were out of business by July 1910.

The Kitty League quickly moved in, putting a franchise in McLeansboro called the Billikens. The Kitty League was a Class D league as well, consisting of teams from Kentucky, Illinois, and Tennessee, which gave it the Kitty name. The Billikens won the second-half title, going 40-18. For 1911 the franchise was renamed the McLeansboro Miners, but the name didn't last long: the Miners moved to Henderson, Kentucky, in late June because McLeansboro did not permit Sunday baseball at the time. There the team was renamed the Henderson Hens.