Bill Lee presents The Baseball Necrology - Live
My wife, LaVonne, and I spent a number of years researching the information that went into The Baseball Necrology, a book that was published by McFarland and Company, Publishers, in 2004. The intent of that research was to find what baseball players, whose playing careers are relatively short, did after their baseball careers. In most cases that information can only be found in obituaries. Consequently, our research became a "death" thing and was compounded when McFarland put the word "Necrology" into the title of the book. Thus, our research became a short abstract of obituaries (necrologies) for every player who had appeared in a major league game since 1876.
Since the book was published in 2004 baseball players have continued to die. From that time until the end of 2013 I continued to maintain current player's deaths on this website that contains all the material in the book plus player's deaths since the book was published. This website also contains photos of gravesite memorials for more than 2,000 players. An index to those player's records that have gravesite photos may be found at baseballundertaker.com/gravesites.html.
Sadly, the baseball necrology project came to a halt at the end of 2013 as more pressing projects, which had been put on the back burner, needed attention. So, with rare exception, short obituaries of every baseball player that ever appeared in a major league game since 1876 and had died prior to 2014 appears on this site. Just enter a player's name, point, click and enjoy.
Leon Day
Born 30 Oct 1916
Died 13 Mar 1995 at St Agnes Hospital in Baltimore MD
Interred Arbutus Memorial Park, Arbutus MD. Location - Section U, Lot 33, Grave 1. GPS Coordinates - N 39° 14.612' - W 76° 42.413'
Hall of Fame. Inducted 1995.
Served in Europe for the U S Army during World War II and was at Utah Beach on D-Day. Played in the negro leagues. Known for his no-windup delivery, he was often compared to Satchel Paige. Died from heart ailments, diabetes and gout, less than a week after being selected for baseball's Hall of Fame.
Last Updated 29 Apr 2009.
Photo Courtesy of Stew Thornley