Ralph McLeod

{{Short description|American baseball player (1916–2007)}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}

{{Infobox baseball biography

|name=Ralph McLeod

|image=Ralph McLeod.jpg

|position=Left fielder

|bats=Left

|throws=Left

|birth_date={{Birth date|1916|10|19}}

|birth_place=West Quincy, Massachusetts

|death_date={{death date and age|2007|04|27|1916|10|19}}

|death_place=Weymouth, Massachusetts

|debutleague = MLB

|debutdate=September 14

|debutyear=1938

|debutteam=Boston Bees

|finalleague = MLB

|finaldate=October 1

|finalyear=1938

|finalteam=Boston Bees

|statleague = MLB

|stat1label=Batting average

|stat1value=.286

|stat3label=Home runs

|stat3value=0

|stat2label=Runs batted in

|stat2value=0

|teams=

• Boston Bees ({{mlby|1938}})

}}

Ralph Alton McLeod (October 19, 1916 – April 27, 2007) was a left fielder in Major League Baseball who played briefly for the Boston Bees late in the 1938 season. Listed at {{height|ft=6|in=0}}, 170 lb., he batted and threw left-handed.

A native of Quincy, Massachusetts, McLeod was called up to the majors by the Boston Bees in September 1938. He collected his first hit, a single, off St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Paul Dean on September 21 –the same day the Hurricane of 1938 struck New England. During the off season he worked as a salesman at a department store, but his baseball career was cut short when he was drafted into the United States Army during World War II. In a six-game career, he was a .286 hitter (2-for-7), including one double and one run scored.

McLeod served as an infantryman for five years and fought in the Battle of the Bulge. After being discharged, he worked as a firefighter in his native Quincy for 32 years until his retirement in 1980. McLeod died in Weymouth, Massachusetts, at the age of 90.