Leonidas Lee

Leonidas Pyrrhus Lee
born Leonidas Pyrrhus Funkhouser

• Bats Unknown, Throws Unknown
• School Princeton University
• Debut July 17, 1877
• Born December 13, 1860 in St. Louis, MO USA
• Died June 11, 1912 in Hendersonville, NC USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Leonidas Lee was the first major leaguer who attended Princeton University. He was only 16 years old when he played 4 games for the St. Louis Brown Stockings in 1877, a team which also featured the 41-year-old Dickey Pearce in 8 games. Lee was the only teenager on a team whose average age was 25.

Lee, who had been at Princeton in 1877, went back there in 1878. He was from a well-to-do local St. Louis family and used a fake last name to play baseball, as it was not considered a reputable endeavor at the time.

Although Lee is the only major league player whose first name was Leonidas, there have been a couple major leaguers whose middle name was Leonidas.

Further Reading

• Chuck Hildebrandt: "Sweet! 16-Year-Old Players in Major League History", Baseball Research Journal, SABR, Vol. 48, Nr. 1, Spring 2019, pp. 5-17.