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.
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