Leon Day
Born: October 30, 1916, Alexandria, VA
Died: March 13, 1995, Baltimore, MD

Leon Day was discovered playing baseball in the sandlots of Baltimore by Herbert “Rap” Dixon who was a former Negro Leagues player and manager of the Black Sox. Day is one of the greatest pitchers in baseball history, and he played for the Baltimore Black Sox, the Brooklyn and Newark Eagles, and the Baltimore Elite Giants, and the Canadian Toronto Maple Leafs. He also played in Puerto Rico, Cuba, Mexico and Venezuela. On July 31, 1942, while playing with the Newark Eagles, Day set a Negro Leagues record, striking out 18 batters. Day served in the United States Army during World War II and landed on Utah Beach on D-Day. He was elected to the Puerto Rican Professional Baseball Hall of Fame in 1993. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1995. The Leon Day Foundation is located in Baltimore, MD.

Sources: The Society for American Baseball Research, Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, National Baseball Hall of Fame, Major League Baseball, Encyclopedia Britannica, Library of Congress, National Public Radio, and the Leon Day Foundation were the primary research sources for the biographical information contained in this exhibition label.