Oglesby Mayor Dominic Rivara wants August 18th to be Jim Bottomley Day. Bottomley, nicknamed Sunny Jim, debuted in Major League Baseball on August 18, 1922. He played in the Majors until 1937, most of those years for the St. Louis Cardinals as a first baseman.
For 69 years, he held the record for batting in the most runs in a nine-inning game with 12. He also set a record with eight unassisted double plays in a season. Bottomley played for the Cardinals from 1922 to 1932, the Cincinnati Reds from 1933 to 1935, and the St. Louis Browns from 1936 to 1937. He played for the Cardinals during four World Series bouts, two of them winners for St. Louis.
Bottomley was born in Oglesby. His family didn’t live there long, but a baseball field there is named for him. Rivara plans to have a resolution for Jim Bottomley Day at the next City Council meeting.
Bottomley Field in Oglesby, named for “Sunny Jim” Bottomley who played in the Major Leagues from 1922 to 1937