Leon Day Park
This park is named for Leon Day, an outstanding player in the Negro Leagues who was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. A resident of southwest Baltimore, Day joined the Baltimore Black Sox in 1934 when African Americans could not play in the Major or Minor Leagues He went on to excel as a second baseman and pitcher for several teams and returned to Baltimore in the 1940s as a member of the Elite Giants He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1995 just a few days before he died.
Leon Day played every position in the field but catch, and he played them all magnificently.
Owner of a baseball team
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The flour-producing Five Mills at Calverton, located at the eastern end of this meadow in the 1800s, were powered by water from a millrace that extended from here to Dickeyville.
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The Baltimore Elite Giants (below), 1949 Negro National League champions: (top row, from left) Joe Back, Leroy Farrell, (first name unknown) Davidson, Monte Pearson, Bill Byrd, Al Wilmore, Bob Romby, Johnny Hayes, Junior Gilliam, Manager Hoss Walker; (bottom row) Butch Davis, Lester Lockett, Sylvester Rodgers, Henry Kimbro, Coach Vic Harris, Henry Baylis, Frazier Robinson, Frank Russell, Peewee Butts, and Leon Day.
Marker can be reached from North Franklintown Road.
Courtesy hmdb.org
