- Leon Day
Leon Day (
October 30 1916 -March 13 1995 ) was an American right-handedpitcher in the Negro Leagues. He played for theBaltimore Black Sox , the Brooklyn & Newark Eagles, and theBaltimore Elite Giants .He was born in
Alexandria, Virginia . Day is noted for pitching a perfect season in 1937 (13-0) while playing for the Newark Eagles, and for hisfastball . Day was also a good hitter and baserunner, batting .320 in 1937.From 1935 through 1946 he appeared in a record seven East-West
All-Star Game s, and set an all-star record by striking out 14 batters. Also, in 1942 he set a Negro League record when he struck out 18 Baltimore batters in a single game - includingRoy Campanella three times.When the Negro League was in the off-season, Day played winter ball in
Puerto Rico . There he established a Puerto Rican record of 19 strikeouts.During
World War II Day served in theUnited States Army , landing onUtah Beach onD-Day . [ [http://www.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20040606&content_id=762644&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=null The Official Site of Major League Baseball: News: Major League Baseball News ] ] He was discharged in February 1946, and later that same month, he pitched an Opening Dayno-hitter against the Philadelphia Stars.In 1950 he left the United States to play in
Canada for a year. The next two years he returned to play in the minor leagues, then returned to Canada to finish his career.Day retired from baseball in 1955. He died of a heart attack in
Baltimore, Maryland at age 78, just six days after learning he had been elected to theBaseball Hall of Fame . Leon Day was the 12th Hall of Famers chosen in the Negro League category to date, and the 7th to be selected while he was still living (Paige-71, Buck Leonard-72, Irvin-73, C.P. Bell-74, Judy Johnson-75, and Dandridge-87 the others). Day is the only Hall of Famer to be enshrined into the Hall with a cap of a team outside the mainlandUnited States ; his plaque depicts him as a "Aguadilla Shark" (Los Tiburones de Aguadilla ), the Puerto Rican team for which he had once played.References
External links
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* [http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/D/Day_Leon.stm Baseball Library biography]
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