'Bad News Bears' Actor Jeffrey Louis Starr Dead at 61

Jeffrey Louis Starr -- a former child actor -- has died ... TMZ has confirmed with multiple family members.

Starr passed away last month ... with a family source telling us he took his last breath in a hospital in Carbondale, Illinois surrounded by loved ones. We're told he dealing with an illness before he died.

Jeffrey's brother, Kevin, and sister-in-law, Michele, posted on social media after he passed ... remembering Jeffrey as someone who gave great hugs, had a big heart and seemed to make and have friends at just about every place he walked into.

Worth noting ... Kevin also mentioned that Jeffrey was sick for several years and "depression is one of the biggest killers in the world." Unclear exactly what he means by that.

Baseball fans will recognize Starr as catcher Mike Engelberg in two sequels to the hit 1976 flick "The Bad News Bears" -- "The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training" and "The Bad News Bears Go to Japan."

Starr replaced Gary Lee Cavagnaro who played the role in the original movie which was led by Walter Mathau and Jackie Earle Haley.

Mathau didn't return to the series, but Haley did ... and, Starr still got to work with some big-time names in Tony Curtis and William Devane.

While Starr doesn't have any other official credits, our sources say he appeared as an extra in several projects during his later years. He also became a deacon at his church in 2010.

Starr married his wife Linda in 1981 ... and, the two remained happily married for the next 44 years. He's survived by his two sons -- Brandon and Jacob -- as well as numerous grandchildren.

Jeffrey was 61.