Nicknamed "Tiger", Leppert stood 5 feet 8 inches (1.73 m) tall, weighed 175 pounds (79 kg), batted left-handed and threw right-handed.

Leppert attended Christian Brothers High School in Memphis and signed his first pro contract with the New York Yankees.

After 1954, a season during which Leppert batted .313 with ten home runs and 170 hits for the Double-A Birmingham Barons of the Southern Association, Leppert was shipped to the Baltimore Orioles in a 17-player trade, one of the largest deals in Major League Baseball history.

[1] (The swap featured Bob Turley, Don Larsen and Gus Triandos, who would go on to stardom in the Majors.)

He is sometimes confused with Donald George Leppert, a catcher who played for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Washington Senators during the 1960s, and later a longtime coach for several MLB teams.