Ruben Leysner

Lochay Ruben Leysner (Curley Kayo) often misspelled Leyssner

• Born 1934 in San Nicolas Aruba
• Died January 16, 2022

Biographical Information

Ruben Leysner played in the Netherlands. His nephews Roly Wout and Harold Wout and brother Vincent Leysner were teammates.

He was a multi-sport star in the Netherlands Antilles, playing for their national baseball team (he does not appear to have been with them for a major tournament), was goalie of the Antilles soccer team and also was good at basketball and table tennis. He player top-tier basketball and soccer in the Antilles. Additionally, he boxed under the name Curley Kayo. In 1955, he was named the best athlete in the Antilles.

In 1959, he moved to the Netherlands in his work as an electrician. He continued his baseball, soccer and basketball careers in Europe. He debuted in the top Dutch baseball league in 1960 with UVV. A pitcher-infielder, he was noted for speed, defense and offense.He hit a team-best .262 in 1960, 7th in the league. He made the Dutch national team that swept the 1960 European Championship.

Leysner hit two first-pitch homers in 1961. That year, he scored 16 runs, second in the league, one behind Henk Keulemans. He hit .286, 12th in the circuit. UVV dropped from the top Dutch league but returned in 1963. In between, he also helped the Netherlands win the 1962 European Championship, with a team-high .467. He was with the Netherlands for the 1963 Haarlem Baseball Week, hitting a grand slam against the England Spartans.

He moved to Ajax in 1964 and remained there through 1972 (the team was in the top league from 1964-1967 and 1971-1972). He had a four-hit game in 1964 and wound up with 23 hits to tie Herre Kok and Hubert Naar for second (5 behind Hamilton Richardson). His .338 average was 4th after Richardson, Kok and Boudewijn Maat. He helped the Netherlands win the 1964 European Championship (getting the first RBI in the perfect game by Rob Hoffmann and Herman Beidschat) and appeared in the 1966 Haarlem Baseball Week. He was player-head coach for Ajax in 1966.

Source: Obituary by Marco Stoovelaar