Ron LeFlore, then 26, made his Major League Baseball (MLB) debut for the Detroit Tigers on August 1, 1974. LeFlore had been serving a five-to-fifteen-year sentence for armed robbery for the previous thirteen months.
LeFlore’s remarkable journey began on June 16, 1948, when he was born in Detroit, Michigan, to John Jr. and Georgia Kincade. Georgia was a single mother with two sons, Harry (born 1937) and Marvin Campbell, when John met her (born 1939). Gerald LeFlore was the family’s youngest member (born in 1950).
LeFlore’s parents worked blue-collar jobs and lived in segregated housing in Detroit. His eldest brother, Harry, was a boxer who competed in the 1960 Olympics in Rome alongside Cassius Clay.
In 1961, Harry died tragically in the ring. LeFlore was 13 years old when his family learned of Harry’s death. It fueled the adolescent’s defiance. He stole, pimped women, dealt drugs, and developed a heroin addiction. When LeFlore was 21, he and two accomplices held up Dee’s bar in Detroit. They were immediately arrested, and LeFlore was taken to Southern Michigan Prison in Jackson.
LeFlore joined the prison softball team to pass the time. Inmate James Karalla, Jr., a former prominent athlete himself, was impressed with LeFlore’s athleticism and recruited him to join the baseball team. Karalla used his connections with Detroit Tigers manager Billy Martin to secure a tryout with the team.
Ron LeFlore practiced with the team on his birthday, June 16, 1973, while on leave from prison. Tiger management asked LeFlore to return for a second tryout after being impressed by his speed and power. Upon his release from prison, LeFlore was offered a contract with the Tigers.
On July 2, 1973, LeFlore was granted parole, and three days later, he reported to Decatur, Illinois, to play for the Clinton [Iowa] Pilots, a Single A affiliate of the Tigers’ minor league farm system. LeFlore was promoted to the Lakeland [Florida] Tigers in spring 1974 and was named the league’s Most Valuable Player. On July 22, LeFlore was assigned to the Tigers’ Triple-A affiliate in Evansville, Indiana, his final stop before reaching the majors. It only took him nine days to be called up to Detroit.
In 1976, Ron LeFlore was voted by fans to be a starter in the All-Star game, the year he also had the longest hitting streak (31) in the American League since 1949. In 1978, LeFlore co-wrote a best-selling memoir, One in a Million: The Ron LeFlore Story, which was the basis for the ABC made-for-television movie starring LeVar Burton. That same year, LeFlore was appointed by U.S. President Jimmy Carter to serve on the National Advisory Committee on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
Later in his career, Ron LeFlore played for the Montreal Expos (1980) and the Chicago White Sox (1981-82). He became the only player in MLB history to lead both the American and National Leagues in stolen bases in a single season while playing for the Expos. At the age of 35, LeFlore retired from Major League Baseball. He spent his post-playing career as a minor league manager, a skycap, and a security guard. LeFlore is married with four children and currently resides in the Tampa Bay area of Florida.
Ron LeFlore’s net worth or net income is estimated to be $1 million – $4 million dollars. He has made such an amount of wealth from his primary career as a Baseball Player.