Negro Leagues

Pop-Eye Leonard and the Wilson Braves.

pc-9-21-1925

Pittsburgh Courier, 21 September 1925.

Charles “Pop-Eye” Leonard is not well-known, but his brother Walter F. Leonard — better known by the nickname Charles gave him, “Buck” — was a legend. The Leonards were natives of Rocky Mount, North Carolina, 18 miles north of Wilson. I have not been able to discover much about Charles, but a bio brief about Buck in Jason T. Powers’ Bringin’ Gas and Dialin’ 9: A Seven Score Addition to the National Pastime, volume 1, describes the brothers’ relationship, and Buck’s attempts to steer his brother away from baseball.

The Wilson Braves, presumably, were affiliated with an African-American minor league.