Major League Players from Proviso East

Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, June 4, 2025

1. Major League Players from Proviso East Marker

Inscription.
Orval Grove
Lee Stange
Robert Jones
Mike Woodard
Theo Shaw
Dave Richards

Women's Bloomer Girl Baseball League: Jeanette Feuerstein

William "Bill" Cade Founder of the Maywood Little League

Erected 2013 by Village of Maywood.

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Charity & Public Work • Sports • Women.

Location. Marker is missing. It was located near 41° 53.279′ N, 87° 51.575′ W. Marker was in Maywood, Illinois, in Cook County. It was on Saint Charles Road west of 21st Avenue, on the right when traveling east. Touch for map. Marker was in this post office area: Maywood IL 60153, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker was in Greater Chicago.

It was also in the American Midwest

and on the Great Lakes.

Globally, it was in North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it found itself in what was once the Viceroyalty of New France,

the territory of the Mississippian Culture,

and the Northwest Territory.

Other nearby markers. At least

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8 other markers are within walking distance of this location: Casa Jalisco (approx. 0.4 miles away); Historic Lake Street (approx. half a mile away); Kiddieland Amusement Park (approx. half a mile away); San Giovanni Battista Scalabrini (approx. 0.6 miles away); Ralph "Babe" Serpico Field (approx. 0.6 miles away); Veterans Memorial (approx. 0.7 miles away); Maywood Peace Garden (approx. 0.7 miles away); First School Building in Melrose Park, Illinois (approx. 0.7 miles away).

More about this marker. This marker, as well as those at other prominent entry points into Maywood, was removed at some point in late July 2025. It appears that for all of these markers, the entire sign has been removed, including the seal that said "Welcome to Maywood."

The sign had been one of 14 erected in 2013 at prominent entry points into this village about 10 miles west of downtown Chicago.

Regarding Major League Players from Proviso East. Of the six players listed here, it appears that only three of them actually played in the major leagues: Orval Grove, Lee Stange and Mike Woodard. Robert Jones, Theo Shaw and Dave Richards were found on Baseball

Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, June 4, 2025

2. Major League Players from Proviso East Marker

Reference with only minor league statistics. Grove and Stange pitched for the high school when it was Proviso Township High; the school became Proviso East when the district divided into two high schools, East and West. Proviso East is inside Maywood's village limits, about two miles by car from this historical marker, while Proviso West is in Hillside, about 3½ miles southwest of here (by car).

Orval Grove was born in 1919 in Kansas and raised in Maywood, where he was the first freshman in Proviso High history to play for the varsity baseball team. His prowess on the diamond led the Chicago White Sox offer him $2,500 in 1937 to begin his professional career and forgo his senior year at Proviso. Grove made his debut with the White Sox in 1940, and spent his entire major league career with them. According to a news report from 1943, he continued playing during World War II because the military had declared him physically unfit, due to injuries to both knees that he suffered two years earlier; he served as the White Sox's Opening Day pitcher in 1944. Over 10 seasons with the White Sox, Grove appeared in 207 games, going 63-73 with a

Proviso East High School image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, June 4, 2025

3. Proviso East High School

Proviso Township High School opened on 1st Avenue in Maywood in 1911. In 1960, the district was split into two high schools, East and West, with Proviso East occupying this old building.

3.78 ERA. He spent three seasons with the Sacramento Solons of the AAA Pacific Coast League before retiring after the 1952 season. He later owned a car wash in Sacramento and died in California in 1992.

Lee Stange was born in Chicago, grew up in suburban Broadview, and was a three-sport athlete at Proviso. In 1953, Stange was a star pitcher on the Proviso Pirates team that won the state championship. He attended Drake University to play football, basketball and baseball, but a knee injury in football kept him from pitching for Drake. In 1957, he was signed to a baseball contract by the Washington Senators as a right-handed pitcher, and he made his major league debut in 1961 for the franchise, which had just moved and become the Minnesota Twins. He spent four seasons with the Twins, including a standout 1963 campaign when he finished with a 12-5 record and a 2.62 earned-run average, sixth-best in the American League. After three seasons with the Cleveland Indians, Stange joined the Boston Red Sox in 1966, for whom he threw two scoreless innings in Game 3 of the 1967 World Series. (The Red Sox lost that series in 7 games to the St. Louis

Proviso Township High School image. Click for full size.

Courtesy of Boston Public Library Tichnor Brothers collection

4. Proviso Township High School

This postcard shows the high school's tower, which still stands today as part of Proviso East.

Cardinals.) He retired after playing for the Chicago White Sox in 1970. After retirement, he was a pitching coach for the Red Sox, Twins and A's. He died in 2018 at age 81.

Mike Woodard was a junior on the 1977 Proviso East team that defeated Glenbard East for the only baseball championship the school has won since Proviso High was split in 1960. (Proviso previously won titles in 1944, 1953 and 1957.) A year later, Woodard was drafted by the Oakland A’s in the 6th round of the 1978 draft. Primarily a second baseman, Woodard played in 100 major league games between 1985 and 1989 for the San Francisco Giants and the Chicago White Sox. In recent years, Woodard returned to Proviso East as its head baseball coach.

The Bloomers were a women’s professional baseball team that played in the Chicago area in the 1940s and 1950s. Based on articles about this league (including one below under “Also See"), Jeanette Feuerstein is only one of several Proviso girls who played professional baseball in this league during and after the wartime years.

Also see . . .
1. Society of American Baseball Research: Lee Stange. This article from SABR

Orval Grove (1919-1992) image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Leaf International (via Wikimedia Commons), 1948

5. Orval Grove (1919-1992)

shares the story of Lee Stange, a standout athlete from Proviso Township High School who would go on to play nine seasons in the major leagues.

Excerpt: “Stange enjoyed an active sporting life in high school. Pitching for local coaching legend Doc Appleton, he led the 1953 Proviso Pirates to a state championship. The junior hurled a number of postseason masterpieces, including knocking off reigning state champ Morton. Finishing the year with a 7-1 record, Stange was one of five players from Proviso chosen on the Chicago Tribune’s Suburban League All-Star Team in 1953. As a senior, Stange beat Morton 8-1 in the state tournament, striking out 10 and surrendering eight hits. But the chance to repeat as state champs ended with a loss to York High School.“

(Submitted on June 5, 2025, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois.)

2. Bloomer Girls. The Historical Society of Forest Park shares the history of the Bloomer Girls, one of six teams that participated in the National Girls Baseball League, which played games in the Chicago area.

Excerpt: "The league had six professional teams: the Bloomer Girls, the Blue Birds, the Chicks, the
Photographed by Douglas M. McWilliams (via Wikimedia Commons), 1978

6. Lee Stange (1936-2018)
Stange was photographed in 1978 when he was the pitching coach for the Oakland A’s.
Queens, the Cardinals, and the Music Maids. The teams were owned by Mr. Emery Parichy, who owned a roofing business in Oak Park (starting in 1926). Mr. Parichy eventually became school board president for Proviso High School in Maywood, now Proviso East; president of the Forest Park Library Board; helped start the Forest Park Park District, and was chairman of fund-raising for Loretto Hospital."

(Submitted on June 5, 2025, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois.)

Credits. This page was last revised on November 27, 2025. It was originally submitted on June 4, 2025, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois. This page has been viewed 378 times since then and 73 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on June 4, 2025, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois. 3, 4. submitted on June 5, 2025, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois. 5, 6. submitted on November 27, 2025, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois.