BUCK LEONARD - AUTOGRAPHED SIGNED CHECK 02/25/1989 - HFSID 270955

BUCK LEONARD
Check payable to a bank in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, the town in which Leonard was born and died, and played his first baseball.
Check signed: "Walter Leonard", 6x2¾. Rocky Mount, North Carolina, 1989 February 25. Check no. 1804, drawn on the account of Mr. & Mrs. Walter F. Leonard at the Planters Bank, Rocky Mount, payable to Plantation National Bank for $20.00. Filled out in another hand. Walter Fenner "Buck" Leonard (1907-1997), a lefthanded power hitter, teamed with legendary slugging catcher Josh Gibson to lead the Homestead Grays to nine consecutive Negro National League championships from 1937 through 1945. The duo was dubbed the "Thunder Twins" by the black press: Leonard was called a black Lou Gehrig, Gibson a black Babe Ruth. While Gibson slugged tape measure home runs, the pull-hitting Leonard, who feasted on fastballs, demonstrated his smooth, powerful stroke by hitting line drives off and over the walls. Leonard was equally smooth and consistent at first base. He was a smart fielder who always made the right play, and a team leader. Leonard, whose Negro League career began in 1933, was offered a Major League contract in 1952, but he felt he was too old to accept. Still, he starred in the Mexican League through 1955. Leonard and Gibson were both enshrined in the Hall of Fame in 1972. Leonard was born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, and played semi-pro baseball there before joining the Homestead Grays. He died in the same community 90 years later. Another famous athlete, Native American Jim Thorpe, made his baseball debut playing for Rocky Mount (1909-1910). It was because he accepted pay for these seasons that Thorpe lost his gold medal from the 1912 Olympic Games. Leonard and Gibson both entered the Hall of Fame in 1972. Lightly creased. Bank stamps on verso show through faintly. Otherwise, fine condition. Post-stroke signature.

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