The game of baseball found professional roots in Southern Illinois in the year 1947. The present day Midwest Baseball League got its start that year as the Illinois State League, changing its name in 1949 to the Mississippi-Ohio Valley League.
It was in 1947 that several professional Class D teams came to life. Among them were the Belleville Stags, the Centralia Cubs, the Mattoon Indians, the Mount Vernon Braves, the West Frankfort Cardinals and the Marion Indians.
Of the six Southern Illinois teams, only Marion and Mount Vernon expired when the switch to the Mississippi-Ohio Valley League occurred in 1949.
The Marion Indians had two play seasons, 1947 and 1948, both years managed by Melvin Ivy. The teams home field was the Marion City Park, now known as Ray Fosse Park.
There were no playoffs in 1947 and the Marion Indians finished the season with 55 wins and 56 losses placing third. In 1948, the Indians had 53 wins and 56 losses, losing in the first round of playoffs and finishing third again.
Team Statistics for 1947
| Team Name | W | L | PCT | GB | Attendance | Managers |
| Belleville Stags | 75 | 37 | .670 | 0 | 18,539 | Walter DeFreitas |
| Centralia Cubs | 60 | 52 | .536 | 15 | 35,000 | Chuck Hawley |
| Marion Indians | 55 | 56 | .495 | 19.5 | 36,705 | Melvin Ivy |
| W. Frankfort Cardinals | 52 | 60 | .464 | 23 | 43,004 | Everett Johnson |
| Mt. Vernon Braves | 49 | 63 | .438 | 26 | 38,330 | Otto Huber |
| Mattoon Indians | 41 | 64 | .390 | 30.5 | 25,671 | Frank Parenti |
No Playoffs were played
Player Statistics for 1947
| Player | Team | Stat | Total | Player | Team | Stat | Total | |
| Billy Klaus | Centralia | BA | .341 | Robert Freels | Belleville | W | 19 | |
| Billy Klaus | Centralia | Hits | 147 | Don Liddle | Mt. Vernon | SO | 190 | |
| Billy Klaus | Centralia | RBI | 84 | Ken Wild | W. Frankfort | ERA | 1.73 | |
| Rip Repulski | W. Frankfort | HR | 10 | Bob Cherek | Belleville | Runs | 90 |
Team Statistics for 1948
| Team Name | W | L | PCT | GB | Attendance | Managers |
| W. Frankfort Cardinals | 85 | 35 | .708 | 0 | 36,656 | Harold Contini |
| Mattoon Indians | 75 | 44 | .630 | 9.5 | 34,754 | Chuck Hawley |
| Marion Indians | 53 | 66 | .445 | 31.5 | 13,697 | Melvin Ivy |
| Mt. Vernon Braves | 52 | 66 | .441 | 32 | 11,364 | Creepy Crespi |
| Belleville Stags | 51 | 67 | .432 | 33 | 6,085 | Gerald Nemitz/ Shan Deniston |
| Centralia Cubs | 41 | 79 | .342 | 44 | 18,211 | Willard Sellergen/ Claude Passe |
Playoffs: West Frankfort 3 games, Marion 1; Mattoon 3 games, Mt. Vernon 2
Finals: West Frankfort 3 games, Mattoon 0
Player Statistics for 1948
| Player | Team | Stat | Total | Player | Team | Stat | Total | |
| Richard Martz | Marion | BA | .361 | Floyd Melliere | W. Frankfort | W | 21 | |
| Don Hazelton | Mt. Vernon | Hits | 150 | Mike Blyzka | Belleville | SO | 192 | |
| Frank Porreca | W. Frankfort | RBI | 94 | Floyd Melliere | W. Frankfort | ERA | 1.77 | |
| Paul Deters | Marion | HR | 8 | William Broukal | Mattoon | Runs | 103 |
Sam’s Notes: Hopefully we can fill in some more blanks on this ball team and its players as time goes by, but I wanted to get out there what is known. The only other piece of data is that one of the 1947 players was named Roy Hawes who started with Marion in 1947 and played in numerous minor league teams until 1960. No real stats on him.
(Data from Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball; www.baseball-reference.com; compiled by Sam Lattuca on 07/11/2013)