PEORIA SUNDAY MORNING LEAGUE

George Burger

1919-1947
Player & Manager

George Burger played in the Sunday Morning League for 8 seasons between 1919 and 1947.  He played for the B&M Clothing Store team in 1918 and 1919 – the 3^rd and 4^th seasons in League history.  He then went on to a long career with the Caterpillar Team both as a player and a manager.  As a player, he was on the 1931 Caterpillar Championship team. 

As a pitcher, his career record was 9-4 with a 2.73 ERA and 69 strikeouts in 105 innings.  As a manager, he led the Caterpillar team to four championships in 1941, 1942, 1944, 1945.  He then finished his career with Illinois Furniture Co. in 1947.  Burger devoted 28 years of service to the Sunday Morning League and ended with a combined 5 Championships as a player and manager.

Lance Conner

1941-1969
Player & Manager

The legendary Lance Conner managed two Sunday Morning League teams to League Championships: the 1943 Gipps Brewing Team and the 1969 Illinois Valley Glass Team.  His two League Championships were 26 years apart.  In between, he played for the Gipps Team for seven seasons from 1941-1952.

Leo Schrall

1935-1939
Player & Manager

The legendary Leo Schrall played in the Sunday Morning League for the Hiram Walker club for three seasons, finishing his playing career with a .313 batting average.  As a manager, he led the Hiram Walker team to three PSML Championships in 1935, 1938, and 1939.

From his Greater Peoria Sports Hall of Fame Bio: Leo Schrall, the highly successful Bradley baseball coach who led the Braves to two appearances in the College World Series enjoyed one of the most varied baseball careers in Peoria's history.  A Notre Dame athlete, he played Minor League baseball, and after his playing days were over, he became a manager. He ran the Hiram Walker entry in the Sunday Morning League for a number of years and also was manager of the Peoria Redwings in the All-American Girls Baseball League.  But it was at Bradley that he achieved national fame. His teams won 346 games while losing only 189 in 24 seasons and after his retirement, he was named to the Hall of Fame of the National Collegiate Baseball Coaches Association. 

Schrall first took Bradley to the College World Series at Omaha in 1950. The Braves lost their first two games that year to be eliminated, but he took them back in 1956 for a fourth-place finish.  Bradley joined the Missouri Valley Conference in Schrall's first season. Under his direction, the Braves won four Valley titles outright and shared a fifth.