Leigh Neuage
wow! you would be almost 40 if you had not decided to leave 20-years ago - wish you could come back besides in my dreams when you frighten me with your presence
July 06, 1983 (Adelaide, South Australia) - August 16, 2003 (Sydney, New South Wales)
Memorial / 05 I have gone to The Novotel Hotel Corner Olympic Boulevard and Herb Elliott Avenue Olympic Park Homebush Bay Sydney almost every year since 2003 - fifteen years; and I will continue to go there to reflect and meditate on Leigh's life. I have written two books on Leigh's life; both are available as e-books. "Leaving Australia 'Again': Before the After" and Leaving Australia, 'Again’: Book 2 ‘After’
I visited places Leigh played baseball in the States in. In 2008 these included Rome and Columbia Georgia (and last home - Phenix City, Alabama) and Lakewood, New Jersey. December 2009 stadiums he pitched in at these places ( Hagerstown, Maryland; Charleston, West Virginia; Greensboro & Kannapolis & Hickory & Asheville, North Carolina; Augusta & Savannah, Georgia; Columbia & Charleston, South Carolina).
Your Father for a mere twenty years
For a slide show of Leigh's lifeLeigh's Guestbook
Leigh's Facebook Leigh's Youtube
Australian Idol
I now know that baseball was just a small part of who you were. What you showed the world was just your shadow (fuzzy logic) a cover for a painful life within that I am just learning to understand and deal with five and half years after you decided this was not the place for you. It was yesterday (12th of March 2009) when I was reading what two friends of yours wrote in your Facebook that I realised that to many baseball was just a small aspect of you.
Leigh use to say that none of his friends played baseball. He liked that. Their only interest in baseball was Leigh. "Baseball is my job it is not me" he once wrote. I used to love watching Leigh pitch, it was an art form. He was so good. The Atlanta Brave's scout clocked him at 92 mph when he was 16. Nothing stressed him when he was on the mound. When he was pitching he had control of the universe yet still he said baseball was just his job. Just an act he was good at from daily practice from the age of seven when he announced he would play for the NY Yankees. No one in our area played baseball. Country South Australia is into Aussie Rules Footy and cricket.
You gave so much of yourself and are still remembered and missed by so many. Of your more than one-hundred friends in Facebook, not a one speaks about your baseball career. They only speak of missing a friend. I miss you too so much every day. Thank you for all you gave. I only keep your ashes with me on my desk or next to my bed because I have never known where to put them. We lived in so many places but I think one day I will spread them in either Mt. Compass or in Victor Harbor because there was a time we were happy in the Fleurieu Peninsula. I definitely will not leave them in the United States, Sydney or in Adelaide.
Australian National Baseball Teams
- August 1997 age 14 U-15 Australian National Team – Brisbane, Old, Australia
- July 1998 age 15 - U 16 National Team July 11-19 World Championships Fairfield Heights, Illinois, USA – (Australia fourth in World Championship of 16 countries)
- July 1999 age 16 Australian National Team, Johannesburg, South Africa
- July 1999 age 16 Australian Schoolboys National Team Lismore, NSW, Australia
- July 2000 age 17 Australian Schoolboys National Team, Florida, USA
- July 2000 age 17 Australian National Team, U-18, Canada
- December 2000 age 17 International Baseball League Championship Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
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November 7, 2001 World Cup Taiwan
- State 1/1997 age 13 South Australian U/14 State Squad. - Glenelg, South Australia
- State 1/1998 age 14 South Australian U-16s State Squad – Canberra, ACT
- State 3/1998 age 14 South Australian School Boy Team – Brisbane, Queensland
- State 1/1999 age 15 South Australian U-16s State Squad - Alice Springs, NT
- State 5/1999 age 15 South Australia schoolboy team - Perth, WA
- State 1/2000 age 16 South Australian U-18s State Squad - Perth, WA
- State 5/2000 age 16 South Australia schoolboy team Brisbane - Queensland
- State 1/2001 age 17 South Australian U-18s State Squad - Sydney, NSW
Awards
- Program athlete of the year 2000 South Australia Sports Institute (SASI)
- SASI Baseball Scholarship 1997 - 2002
- SASI HALL OF FAME: AAA U19, Australian Schoolboys Team
- South Australia Sports Star of the Year VIDEO at the Channel 7 Sports Star of the Year Awards.
- South Australia Sports Star of the Year VIDEO at the Channel 7 Sports Star of the Year Awards.
February 2001 age 17 signed with LA Dodgers 
- South Australia Club - Southern Districts Baseball Club (1991-2003)
- Last American Club; South Georgia Waves
Leigh and Sacha Radio show (Leigh on left); Leigh's first homepage (age 15 - 1998); First World Series (1998 U14 USA - scores from the game); Under 18; Australian Nationals; U-18 National Schoolboys championship Under 18 Canadian guestbook from July 2000, Players from Australian U-18/scores,
I will be in Sydney to celebrate Leigh’s life on August 16th, 2019, in front of the Novotel Hotel, Sydney Olympic Park, Homebush Bay. Last August 16, 2005 (and 2004) was a very cold and windy day in Sydney and as I left that evening to return to the States I realised I would be back at this spot on this day every year. For his friends who wish to share a thought with Leigh it was approximately five AM on August 16 the when he made his decision to leave – falling from the fifteenth floor balcony of his room at the Novotel that faced Olympic Stadium where he had played for Australia.