Buck Leonard

Buck Leonard (1907-1997), American professional baseball player and Negro Leagues star who was a power-hitting first baseman for the Homestead Grays. The left-handed slugger led the Negro National League (NNL) with a .391 average in 1948, when he was 41 years old, and he batted over .350 for his career.

Born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, Walter F. Leonard left school at age 14 to work in a textile mill. He played semiprofessional ball for several years before joining the barnstorming Baltimore Stars. In 1934 he signed with the Homestead Grays, who boasted a fearsome lineup featuring the great Josh Gibson. With Gibson batting third and Leonard fourth, the Grays—who played home games in both Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.—dominated the Negro National League. Playing in Washington’s Griffith Stadium, the Grays regularly drew larger crowds than the Washington Senators of the American League (AL). The third-highest-paid player in the Negro Leagues behind Gibson and pitcher Satchel Paige, Leonard earned a peak of $10,000 in 1948. Late in his career, he played professionally in Mexico. He was offered a contract by the AL’s St. Louis Browns in 1952, but turned it down because, at 45, he felt he was past his prime. He was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972.