Buck Leonard never played Major League Baseball. He declined a 1952 opportunity to play in the Majors because he felt he was too old. Josh Gibson and Buck Leonard were both officially elected to the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972.
With 728 hits in 2,256 plate appearances, Buck finished his career hitting .345 with an on-base percentage (OBP) of .452.
Walter Fenner "Buck" Leonard was an American professional first baseman playing in the Negro Leagues and Mexican League. He grew up in the suburbs of North Carolina, where he played for the Homestead Grays from 1934 until 1950. Together with Josh Gibson, he formed the most formidable 3-4 combination in the history of the Negro Leagues.
With Leonard hitting third and Gibson batting fourth, the Grays of the 1930s and 1940s are considered to be some of the most talented teams in Negro Leagues history.
Buck Leonard and Josh Gibson are two of only nine players in the history of the Negro Leagues to win multiple batting titles. However, Leonard never was able to play Major League Baseball after he declined a contract offer to play in 1952 because he felt he was too old.
As his career in baseball came to a close, Leonard found employment working as a physical education instructor, and was also the vice-president of a Minor League Baseball (MiLB) team.
He and Gibson were both elected to the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972.
In 1999, he was ranked number 47 on the 100 Greatest Baseball Players list by The Sporting News.
Born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, Buck was the brother of fellow Negro Leaguer Charlie Leonard. Their father worked as a railroad fireman while his mother was a homemaker who cared for the six Leonard children.
Leonard's parents called him "Buddy", but his younger brother began mispronouncing it as "Bucky”. Soon family members began calling him "Buck", a name which stuck with him throughout his life.
When Leonard was about seven years old, he snuck out of his home, heading over to the baseball field of the local white team to watch games through the fence. Local police once even arrested Leonard and his friends when they were caught peeking through the fence at the segregated field. [4]
Leonard's father died when he was just eleven years old and Leonard picked up jobs after school to help his family make ends meet. There was no black high school in Rocky Mount, so Leonard finished the eighth grade and began working as a shoe shine at a railroad station. [5]
He also took up work in a hosiery mill while working for the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. He later earned a GED by correspondence.
Buck soon began his semiprofessional baseball career while working for a railroad company. However, after accepting the job, Leonard soon long to play baseball. He made the decision to purse baseball to make a living, and for Buck it paid off. [6]
He began his Negro League career in 1933 with the Brooklyn Royal Giants, shortly after signed with the Homestead Grays in 1934, the team he would play for until his retirement in 1950.
The Grays of the late 1930s through the mid-1940s are considered one of the greatest teams of any race ever assembled. They draw comparisons to the 1927 New York Yankees, a lineup that included Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig.
With the strength of the duo of Leonard and Gibson, the Grays would go on to win 9 league pennants in a row.
Leonard batted fourth in the Grays starting lineup behind Josh Gibson.
He led the Negro National League in batting average in 1948 with a mark of .395, nearly claiming the .400 mark for the season. Homestead could count on Buck either to lead the league in home runs or finished second in homers to his teammate, Josh Gibson.
Since Gibson was known as the "Black Babe Ruth" and Leonard was a first baseman, Buck Leonard was inevitably called the "Black Lou Gehrig."
Together, the pair were colloquially known as the "Thunder Twins" or "Dynamite Twins". [8]
In fact, Negro League star Monte Irvin said that if Leonard had been allowed to play in the major leagues, baseball fans "might have called Lou Gehrig the white Buck Leonard. He was that good."
The Homestead Grays Franchise was later dissolved in 1950 , after full integration with Major League Baseball.
Beginning in 1951, Leonard went to play ball for the Mexican League, with teams playing an average of three games per week.
It was a, a pace that worked well for the league and also for the aging first basemen..
Leonard had a running joke that he got sick from the water every year he returned to Mexico, but he otherwise enjoyed the league.
For much of his time in Mexico, he was managed by Cuban baseball star Martín Dihigo. Leonard was impressed by Dihigo's knowledge of the game.
In 1952, Leonard was offered a major league contract, but he believed that at the age of 45 that he was ultimately too old to play MLB and might even embarrass himself, hurting the cause of integration. He stayed in Mexico through 1955, playing for teams in Torreón, Xalapa, Durango and Obregón.
Career Awards:
In 1953, Leonard made his only appearances in "organized" ball, playing for the unaffiliated Portsmouth Merrimacs of the class B Piedmont League, hitting .333 in 10 games and 46 at bats.
Oscar Charleston played and managed in the Negro Leagues as an outfielder, first baseman and pitcher. Charleston would later become manager of the Indianapolis Clowns.
Cool Papa Bell played centerfield in the Negro Leagues from 1922 to 1946. played for the powerhouse Kansas City. Monarchs, Pittsburgh Crawfords, and Homestead Grays.
Buck Leonard, along side Josh Gibson formed the best three-four, hitting tandem in the History of the Negro Leagues, leading the Homestead Grays to dominance.
Satchel Paige began his 20 year career in the Negro Leagues pitching for the Chattanooga Lookouts. He would later make his MLB debut at age 42 for the Cleveland Indians.
Cum Posey was a veteran Negro Leagues team owner, player, and league executive. He is the founding member of two leagues, and a Hall of Fame Basketball player.
Jackie Robinson is the first African American to play Major League Baseball. He broke baseball's color barrier in 1945, by signing with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Roy Campanella played one season in the Negro Leagues, signing with the Brooklyn Dodgers just one season after Jackie Robinson’s debut in Major League Baseball.
Gus Greenlee was a driving force behind the organization of the Negro National League I. During his time involved with Negro Leagues he owned several profitable side businesses.
Major League Baseball’s all-time leader in home runs with 755, few know Aaron began his baseball career in the Negro Leagues as a shortstop for the Indianapolis Clowns.
Candy Jim Taylor was a professional third baseman, manager, and brother of four professional playing Negro Leaguers. His career in baseball spanned over 40 years.
Cristóbal Torriente, often called the Babe Ruth of Cuba, played as an outfielder in the Negro Leagues from 1912-1932. He was most known for his incredible power to all fields.
Considered one of the best pitchers of the early 1900s, and perhaps the most influential figure in Negro League history, Rube Foster founded the NNLI and managed the Chicago American Giants.
Larry Doby was the second African-American baseball player to break baseball's color barrier and the first black player to play in the American League.
Even from the catcher position, Josh Gibson's display of power during his career for the Homestead Grays is legendary. However, Gibson would never play Major League Baseball.
King Solomon "Sol" White played baseball professionally as an infielder, manager and league executive. White is considered to be one of the pioneers of the Negro Leagues.
Born in July 1888, Ben Taylor was the youngest of 4 professional Negro Leaguers, including Candy Jim Taylor, C.I. Taylor, and Johnny Steel Arm Taylor.
Biz Mackey was regarded as one of the Negro Leagues premier offensive and defensive catchers, playing across several leagues from late 1920s and early 1930s.
Nathaniel Strong was a Negro Leagues sports executive, businessman, team owner and founding member of the Negro National League I,
After joining the New York Giants, Monte Irvin flourished as one of the early African-American players in MLB, making 2 World Series appearances for the Giants, playing along side Willie Mays.
Norman Turkey Stearnes played professionally in the Negro Leagues, and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2000.
Bill Gatewood pitched the first no-hitter in Negro League (NNLI) history when he defeated the Cincinnati Cuban Stars on June 6, 1921.
John Boyce Taylor was the second-oldest of 4 baseball-playing brothers, the others being Charles, Ben and James. For the 1899-1900 seasons, Taylor won 90% of his games starting pitcher for the Giants.
Buck O’Neil joined the Memphis Red Sox for their inaugural season in the newly formed Negro American League. However, his contract was purchased by the Kansas City Monarchs the next season.
We use cookies to analyze website traffic and optimize your website experience.