Leo Pinckney

• Born November 19, 1917
• Died November 20, 2006 in Auburn, NY, USA

Biographical Information

Leo Pinckney was a longtime sports reporter, columnist, and editor; minor league baseball executive; and minor league baseball league president.

Early in Pinckney's 37 years as sports editor of The Citizen newspaper in Auburn, NY, he was among a small group of men, others including Barney Hearn, Vincent Klein, and Dr. Thomas Stapleton, who led the effort to bring professional baseball back to Auburn. In 1958, the Auburn Yankees began a long period of New York-Penn League baseball in Auburn that has continued almost uninterrupted to the present day.

After serving in various leadership roles with Auburn Community Baseball, the parent organization of Auburn's New York-Penn League team, for roughly three decades, Pinckney served as president of the New York-Penn League from 1984 to 1993.

Honors and Awards

• The New York-Penn League named its Pinckney Division after Pinckney in 1993.
• Along with 1996 Hall of Fame inductees Earl Weaver and Jim Bunning, Pinckney threw out the first pitch at the annual Hall of Fame Game in Cooperstown, NY. The Hall of Fame extended this honor to Pinckney because he had covered the game for 50 consecutive years, which is believed to be a record.
• Pinckney was crowned "King of Baseball" at the 1998 Baseball Winter Meetings in Nashville, TN.
• Leo Pinckney Field at Falcon Park, currently home to the Auburn Doubledays of the New York-Penn League, was named in his honor at the end of the 2004 season.

Sources

• AP - "Love of game drives 'Mr. Baseball'"
• Syracuse Press Club article
• "Leo Pinckney, Auburn's ‘King of Baseball,' passes away at 89"
• HarnessRacing.com article