People don't know what a great pitcher Leonde was. He was as good or better than Bob Gibson.

He was a better fielder, a better hitter, could run like a deer. When he pitched against Satchel, Satchel didn't have an edge.

You thought Don Newcomb could pitch?

You should have seen Leon Day,

one of the best complete athletes I've ever seen.

Those are not my words.

Those are the words of Hall of fame of Monty Irvin, who was a teammate of the great Leon Day.

Leon Day is a name that is not a household name in baseball's history, but it should be.

Leon Day was the epitome of what a great pitcher was in the Negro leagues.

Former Newark Eagles co-owner, Hall of Famer, Effie F. Manley, speaking in 1977, courtesy of the Louis B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.

That Leon Day, oh, he played every place on the field except catch.

The only thing he did, I don't mean he filled in. He played them every position, but he was such a magnificent picture that we ended up using him entirely as a picture.

But he was one of those tragedies of being born a few years too soon.

Leon Day is actually in right field here at the Negro Leagueagues baseball museum on our field of legends.

And as the late great Buck O'Neill would say, Leon Day was actually a better center fielder

than he was pitcher. And I remind people all the time, he's in the National Baseball Hall of Fame as a pitcher,

and one of the most dogged competitors you will ever see.

Leon Day was discovered by another great former Negro Leigham named Rap Dixon,

one of the great nicknames in baseball history.

I mean, how poetic is it that your nickname is Rap?

Because he wrapped a lot of base hits playing this game.

Rap Dixon was also a great baseball mind, a great baseball manager.

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