Hank Leiber, who played football and baseball at the University of Arizona in the 1920s. Photo courtesy of University of Arizona
May 29, 1946: Hank Leiber plays in his last baseball game
Until ASU’s Reggie Jackson and Arizona’s Terry Francona came along decades later, Hank Leiber was the most celebrated baseball player from this state.
He made the 1938, 1940 and 1941 MLB All-Star games, and played in the World Series of 1936 and 1937.
Leiber was a big, old cuss — maybe 6 feet 2 inches, 220 pounds — and there was little doubt he was The Big Man on Campus during his UA days.
Tough and stubborn, Leiber played football, baseball and basketball at Arizona, and was such a powerful hitter that New York Giants manager John McGraw personally offered him a bonus contract in 1928 and again in 1930.
Leiber hit 101 major-league home runs from 1933-42, but the story of his career became his early retirement.
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“I was really just in my prime. I was 31,” he told the Star in 1992. “I could have been up there with the all-time hot shots.”
Some baseball people thought Leiber’s career was over when he was hit in the head by a 100 mph Bob Feller fastball in 1937.
A wire service reported that Leiber “appeared unhurt” after the beaning (this was in baseball’s pre-helmet days.) But Leiber walked to first base, then collapsed. He suffered a concussion that sidelined him for 101 games over three months.
“After getting out of New York Presbyterian Hospital, I had to learn to walk all over again. That took me another month,” Leiber told the Star.
He was never able to match his superb 1934 season, when he hit 22 home runs, drove in 107 runs and batted .331. At 24, he established himself as one of MLB’s rising stars.
Four years later, Leiber was again hit in the skull by a fastball, from the Giants’ Cliff Melton.
“The home-plate umpire later told me, ‘I thought you were dead. Your eyes were rolling around.’ “
Leiber was never again the same hitter. His average dropped to .216 in 1941 and .218 a year later, when he was forced to retire.
But it wasn’t the last baseball game he would play. That came unexpectedly on May 29, 1946 at Randolph Park (now Hi Corbett Field) before a crowd of 2,500 who paid to watch Leiber’s semi-pro team, Tucson Mutual Life, play the Tucson Aztecas.
By ’46, Leiber was a real estate salesman who would go on to make a fortune while helping to develop Oro Valley Country Club and Forty-Niners Country Club. But he was only 35 the night he inserted himself into the Mutual Life lineup, pinch-hitting in the ninth inning.
Leiber’s return to baseball became an instant legend in 1940s Tucson.
When Leiber stepped into the batter’s box, game tied at 7, he faced the most accomplished pitcher in Tucson history, former Amphitheater High School lefty Alex Kellner, who had returned to Tucson after World War II and would be on the American League All-Star team in 1949.
Leiber vs. Kellner. Classic.
Even though Leiber hadn’t played all season, or taken batting practice, he hit a Kellner fastball back through the mound and into centerfield, winning the game.
Tucson attorney Burt Kinerk, who would later pitch at Tucson High and the UA, was the bat boy for that ’46 Mutual Life team.
“I still remember that night,” Kinerk said last week. “Leiber hit a rocket next to Kellner’s ear. The stadium was rocking. Everybody knew about that hit. You couldn’t intimidate him.”
During his days as an Arizona baseball player, Leiber was teammates with future UA baseball coach Frank Sancet. Even though both were Wildcats, Sancet referred to Leiber as “Aggie.”
It was short for “aggravating.” Leiber did things his way.
Where are they now: Leiber died in 1993, at 82. He was a charter member of the Tucson Conquistadores, a scratch golfer (and 1950 club champion) at Tucson Country Club, and grandfather of former Canyon del Oro High School pitcher Zane Leiber, who pitched for the Chicago White Sox in 1993 and 1994.
How he did it: Leiber said he was 17 years old when he signed with the Giants. “I was playing semi-pro in Phoenix. I got $25 a game, and Frank Sancet got $20.”
But because there was no NCAA to regulate eligibility, Leiber moved to Tucson and became Pop McKale’s cleanup hitter.
“I was not old enough to sign,” said Leiber, whose initial plan was to be a dentist. “My dad made me promise to finish my education before he’d sign for me. I’m still 12 hours short of my degree.”
Photo: Undated photo of Hank Leiber, who played football and baseball at the University of Arizona, ca 1920s. Courtesy University of Arizona
