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Notes for J. GARLAND (JAKE) STAHL(7):
Born in 1879 and reared in Elkhart, Illinois, Jake attended the University of Illinois from 1899 to 1903, where he graduated in law and was a star football and baseball player. As captain of the baseball team in his senior year, Jake hit the longest home run in "Fighting Illini" history - over a great elm tree stilled called the Jake Stahl Tree. The bases-loaded "grand slam" in the ninth inning snatched victory from rival University of Michigan.
After college he played baseball in the majors for a decade - notably with the Boston Red Sox, for whom he helped to win two World Series championships. In 1903 he played in the first-ever World Series as a rookie center fielder, a series the Bosox won from the Pittsburgh Pirates. In 1912 he served as playing manager at first base as Boston took the series from John McGraw's New York Giants.
In 1913 he left baseball for a full-time bank management position in Chicago, where he had worked "off baseball season" for the father of his wife and college sweetheart, Jeanie Mahan. After his father-in-law's death Jake became president of Chicago's Washington Park National Bank.
In ill-health, about 1920 Jake moved to southern California with his wife and son. He died there in Sept. 1922 at the age of 43. Those who have written about him and his career refer to him as a "very modest and lovable man" and "Mr. Humanitarian" George Ebey p. 33
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