Wanting again on Leon Day’s Opening Day no-no

For each baseball crew, there’s just one Opening Day. A vacation across the sport in any respect ranges of the sport, it marks the return of spring and supplies hope and pleasure for gamers of all ages.

Opening Day may set the tone for the remainder of the season. So think about what it have to be like for a pitcher to start a brand new yr by throwing a no-hitter.

As you may anticipate, it hasn’t occurred typically in baseball historical past. Some might recall that Bob Feller threw an Opening Day no-no for Cleveland on April 16, 1940, when he struck out eight White Sox and recorded a formidable victory. That stays the solely Opening Day no-hitter in AL/NL historical past.

However, it is not the one Opening Day no-no in baseball historical past. There was additionally Leon Day.

A Baseball Hall of Famer who was a two-way star for 10 seasons within the Negro National League between 1934-46, Day was among the many nice pitchers of his period. Some put him on the extent of one other Negro Leagues ace of the time.

“Leon was as good as Satchel Paige, as good as any pitcher who ever lived,” Hall of Famer Monte Irvin as soon as stated.

While Day produced some stellar outings over his profession, maybe none had been extra memorable than his begin on May 5, 1946.

It was Opening Day for the Newark Eagles, and it marked a return for Day. He had been drafted by the Army on Sept. 1, 1943, so he was away from baseball in 1944 and ’45.

The large query was: Would Day nonetheless be an All-Star-caliber pitcher upon his return? On May 5, 1946, he would discover out.

“I used to be a little bit nervous, like I all the time was in the beginning of a recreation, however after I received began, all the things was all proper,” Day said, according to the book “Of Monarchs and Black Barons: Essays on Baseball’s Negro Leagues.”

Everything was greater than all proper. Day went the space and confronted solely 29 Philadelphia Stars batters. He yielded solely three baserunners, allowed no runs — and allowed zero hits. An Opening Day no-no was fairly the beginning for what ended up being a terrific return season for the right-hander.

There was some controversy with the no-hitter, in response to experiences from the time. The Trenton Evening Times famous that the sport was “almost called several times due to arguments with the umpires.” According to the e-book “Dandy, Day, and the Devil,” Philadelphia catcher Bill “Ready” Cash did not consider considered one of Newark’s errors ought to have been dominated as such. He was later ejected for arguing a play on the plate, as was Stars participant/supervisor Homer “Goose” Curry.

But the calls stood, the Eagles started the season with a 2-0 win and Day completed one of many rarest feats in baseball historical past. He capped the outing by putting out pinch-hitter Henry McHenry on “three lightning-sharp pitches,” per the New York Amsterdam News.

Day went on to have a stellar last season within the Negro National League, additional cementing his baseball legacy. And not solely was he a robust pitcher all through his profession, however he additionally performed infield and outfield every now and then, leaving these round him impressed.

“I would say he was the most complete ballplayer I’ve ever seen,” Irvin stated, per Day’s Hall of Fame profile. “I’ve never seen a better athlete, never seen a better baseball player all-around.”