(Entry No. 5)

Name This Week’s Mystery Player!

How well you do know your old-time players?

My goal with this feature is to shine our baseball spotlight on some very good players from days gone by who have been overshadowed by the likes of Ruth, Gehrig, Speaker, Hornsby, Grove, Greenberg, Robinson, Paige, Gibson, and Williams, among many other superstars the game has produced. Hopefully, we can give them a little exposure before they are totally lost over the passage of time. 

Player Identity: Leon Day

As always on Baseball History Comes Alive, we can have some fun while enhancing our baseball history learning experience. Each entry will include a short description of the player and highlights from his career. Some of the entries might require you to do a little research on your own. I might even add a personal comment or two about him.

So as to give everyone a chance to guess without the player’s identity being immediately revealed, send me your answer via e-mail instead of leaving your answer in the comments section. At the end of the week, I’ll post the names of everyone who got the correct answer.

Send your answers to me at: Livac2@aol.com.

This week’s mystery player (from Wikipedia): 

This week’s Mystery Player was a professional baseball pitcher who spent the majority of his career in the Negro leagues. Recognized as one of the most versatile athletes in the league during his prime, [he] could play every position, with the exception of catcher, and often was the starting second baseman or center fielder when he was not on the mound. A right-handed pitcher with a trademark no wind-up delivery, [he] excelled at striking batters out, especially with his high-speed fastball. At the same time, he was an above-average contact hitter, which, combined with his effectiveness as a baserunner and his tenacious fielding, helped cement [him] as one of the most dynamic players of the era.

This week’s bonus questions:

1. Name at least two of the four teams he played on in the Negro Leagues and/or the Mexican Leagues

2. He was a member of one Negro League World Series championship team. What year was that?

3. What year was he elected to the Hall of Fame?

This player has always been one of my favorites from the Negro Leagues. I’ve always been fascinated by his versatility as a solid position player who could play anywhere on the diamond except catcher, and as a great pitcher. I recently read that in four head-to-head match-ups with Satchel Paige, this player won three of them. A couple years ago, I did a nice write-up about him after being contacted by the president of his foundation, and it seemed to go over real well. He was one of the game’s all-time greats and a worthy member of the Hall of Fame.

If you’d like to take a stab at identifying this player, please send me your answer via email. But feel free to add any thoughts or personal reflections you might have about him in the comments section below.

Send your answers to me at: Livac2@aol.com

AT THE END OF THE WEEK, I’LL POST THE NAMES OF EVERYONE WHO GOT THE CORRECT ANSWER, INCLUDING THE WINNER (THE FIRST ONE TO GET IT RIGHT).

Last Week’s Winners:

Congratulations to Robert Rambo and Don Stokes (their answers arrived almost simultaneously!), as the first to correctly identify last week’s mystery player as:

Hooks Wiltse

Bonus Questions Answers:

1. Hooks finished his career with the Federal League Brooklyn Tip-Tops

2. Hook’s brother also played in the major leagues. His nickname was “Snake”

Congratulations to the following who all identified the mystery player correctly. You guys really know your old-time baseball!:

Robert Rambo, Don Stokes, Paul Doyle, Ed Cassidy, Alex de Ravel, Terry Farmer, Dave Cunniff, Mike Bresina, Al Citro, Pete Aman, Dennis Dockins, Stephen Giovannoni, David Anthony Denny, Michale Keedy, Dave Casimir.

Click here to see previous Mystery Player entries

Send your answers to me at: Livac2@aol.com.