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Satchel Paige

1906-1982

American baseball player

Leroy Robert "Satchel" Paige, one of the game's true natural talents, was an African-American man living during the height of the Jim Crow days in a South where the color-barrier was thick and seemingly insurmountable. Yet in spite of the odds, Paige transcended place, time, and sport, and became one of the greatest players baseball has ever seen. The first black pitcher to play in the major leagues, the oldest major league rookie, and a man who pitched—and won—more games than any other baseball player in history, many of Paige's accomplishments stand on their own. But many of his feats exist as part of the mythology that preceded him in life, and now—since his death from a heart attack in 1982—follow Paige's legend wherever it goes. As Mark Ribowsky noted in his 1994 book Don't Look Back: Satchel Paige in the Shadows of Baseball: "If Paige hadn't existed, someone in art or literature would have invented him…. Wherever [he] went, somethingimportant happened in the evolution of baseball."

Growing Up

Leroy Robert Paige was born on July 7, 1906, in Mobile, Alabama, the third son and seventh child in a family that would eventually run to 12 children. Born to Robert and Lula Paige, Satchel came into the world in the back room of a rundown shack he would later describe as a "shotgun shack"—meaning, he said, that if someone were to shoot a shotgun through the front door, it would carry right on through and out the back door. Although this date is now widely recognized as Paige's official birthday, there is still some dispute as to when he was actually born. Integration was unheard of in the South at that time and most blacks in Mobile weren't born in hospitals. Therefore, no public records exist to back up—or deny—the circumstances surrounding Paige's birth.

The confusion around his birth gave Satchel fodder for his tall tales. Until the day he died he would never give a straight answer—even going so far as to have

question marks engraved on his tombstone where the birth date normally appears. "Age is a question of mind over matter," he would say. "If you don't mind, age don't matter." Paige told reporters that he was born in "nineteen-ought." He said the family goat ate the Bible in which they stored his birth certificate.

With so many children to look after, Satchel didn't receive much attention at home. His mother did the cooking, the washing, and the cleaning for the family, while Satchel's father, described as a "sometimes-gardener," was not around and gave little support to Lula and the children. Driven by necessity to earn money for the family, Paige took a job as a baggage handler at the local railroad station. He was seven-years-old.

He and the other boys who worked at the station earned their money in tips, scrambling, as the trains pulled in, to be chosen to carry the businessmen's luggage from the platform to the nearby hotels. Satchel soon realized that style and charisma were the things that got a person noticed. Even with his ability to carry more bags than the other boys, it wasn't enough. Show-manship was a skill he honed, and soon, with talents superior to those of the other boys, he had his arms full.

During his years as a baggage-handler, Paige earned his now-famous nickname "Satchel." Always eager for more, young Leroy Paige would soon step outside the bounds of the law. Most accounts of the "Satchel" nickname origin say Paige earned it because, often carrying many bags at once, his friends told him he looked like a "satchel tree." But as with most stories surrounding his life, it's often difficult to determine what is true and what is part of the Satchel Paige mythology. Mark Ribowsky wrote in Don't Look Back that one of Satchel's childhood friends, Willie Hines, came up with the famous moniker.

As Hines recalled, "One day [Paige] decided to run off with one of the bags. The man gave it to him and he broke and ran with it. That fella caught him and slapped him hard, in the face, and took it back. That's when I named him Satchel, right on that day." Hines, aware of the many versions of how Paige earned his nickname, added, "All those years he said he got the name 'cause he carried satchels. Hell no—it's 'cause he stole 'em!"

Paige's tendencies towards mischievous behavior at the train yards followed him through childhood, and by the age of ten, he was a budding thief. Stealing bicycles or toys, throwing bricks or rocks, or getting in fights—if there was something to be done to thwart authority, Paige was first in line. He understood that in order to survive as a black youth in Mobile, he had to have an attitude and make himself known. And he wanted to be known. He wanted to be the kid others looked up to or avoided or talked about.

In Maybe I'll Pitch Forever, Paige reflects with a "profound eloquence" on the antisocial tendencies of his youth. "Maybe I got into all those fights," he recalled, "because I found out what it was like to be a Negro in Mobile. Even though you're only seven, eight, or nine, it eats at you when you know you got nothing and can't get a dollar. The blood gets angry." Paige wanted out of Mobile, but he wasn't sure how to get there.

The life of petty crime came to an end when, at 12-years-old, he was caught stealing rings from a jewelry store and sentenced to five-and-a-half years at the Mount Meigs Negro Reform School. His mother, who could do no more for him, gave in to the police's recommendation that Satchel be sent away. Although he'd wanted to get out of the city, this was not what he had in mind. While at the Meigs school, however, Paige would discover his passion and gift for baseball. He'd played some ball at the W.H. Council School in Mobile and spent some time in the ballparks back home, but that was mostly sweeping the grandstands or mowing the grass for extra money. At the Meigs School, Satchel would embark on a baseball path that defined the rest of his life.

Played in the Negro Leagues

The Industrial School for Negro Children in Mount Meigs, Alabama, provided Paige with the education he'd been lacking and gave him his first true introduction to baseball. Initially a first basemen, he soon became the starting pitcher. That same Willie Hines—the one who'd witnessed Satchel's dead-on accuracy when he'd thrown rocks and bricks back in Mobile—told the coach Satchel could pitch better than any guy they had up there. Though Paige wasn't a refined pitcher by any means, the Mount Meigs coach, Edward Byrd, worked with Satchel and helped turn him into one of the greatest pitchers the game has ever known. He taught Satchel the beginnings of moves that became characteristic of Paige's style: the high front foot kick, "so it looked like I blocked out the sky," and the release of the ball at the last possible moment. He taught him to study not only the batter's eyes, but also his knees, "like a bullfighter. A bullfighter can tell what a bull is going to do by watching its knees."

When he was released from the Mount Meigs School, Paige returned to Mobile unsure of what to do next. Seeking the next chapter in his life, wandering the streets for answers, he came across some black men playing baseball. In 1923, the popularity of baseball was beginning to rise in the South. Satchel Paige soon began playing with the local team, but word of his talents as a pitcher spread, and in 1926 he signed with the Chattanooga, Tennessee Black Lookouts.

Paige's mother wasn't happy that her son would probably be playing baseball on Sundays, but was pleased that baseball had finally given him a ticket to get out of Mobile. Paige would end up staying with the Black Lookouts through the 1927 season, touring a South he'd never seen, and concentrating on sharpening his talents and expanding his pitching repertoire.

Paige's fastball had always been—and would continue to be—his principal pitch. Yet as he matured he developed an arsenal of pitches. Almost as famous as his fastball would be his "hesitation pitch," a delayed pitch in which the hurler strides forward, holds back a second, then lets go of the ball at the very last moment. On the mound Paige's reputation preceded him and some batters were so unnerved by his appearance that they would swing their bats before he even released the ball.

"I got bloopers, loopers, and droopers," Paige would say, describing his many pitches. "I got a jump-ball, a be-ball, a screw ball, a wobbly ball, a whipsy-dipsy-do, a hurry-up, a nothin' ball and a bat dodger." This "be-ball," he explained, "is a be-ball 'cause it 'be' right where I want it, high and inside. It wiggles like a worm." He would also, in typical Paige fashion, assert at other times that this was a "bee" ball because of the buzzing noise it made as it rocketed past batters.

As when he toted luggage, Paige soon saw that being successful in baseball—especially in the Southern Negro Leagues, which were considered inferior to the majors—took more than just being a great ballplayer. The emptiness and poverty of growing up in Mobile turned Paige into an opportunist. The boy who carried luggage from the train platform was now a man standing on the mound. Yet he still wanted the most attention, and so, in addition to being a phenomenal ballplayer, Satchel became an entertainer, a spectacle who drew the fans to the ballparks.

Although he was all seriousness when he took hold of the ball, Satchel gave the audience what they came for, and they almost always left with stories to tell. Paige might signal to the outfielders to leave the field early, or at the very least, tell them to sit down because he planned to strike out the side. Or he might announce beforehand that he would fan the first nine batters—and then do it!

Satchel Paige packed 'em in. In fact, in his first three starts in the major leagues, in 1948, he drew over 200,000 fans and set nighttime attendance records in Chicago and Cleveland.

Paige was always open to discussions with other teams who were willing to pay him more, and he participated in exhibition games to bring in more cash. This itinerant nature is one of the reasons it is so difficult to pin down statistics on him during his years in the Negro leagues, and why often some of the statistics can't be found. Paige moved often from team to team, as well as being "loaned" out to other clubs from his parent club, always going where the money was. It has been estimated that towards the end of his life, he'd pitched in well over 2500 games, winning about 2000 of them-with 300 shutouts and 55 no-hitters.

After leaving the Chattanooga Black Lookouts, he signed with the Alabama Birmingham Black Barons, in 1927, for $275 a month. He then began to bounce around the country "globetrotting" to demonstrate his talents. In 1928 he played for the Nashville Elite Giants and spent the off-season touring with a group of barnstormers—something he would continue to do throughout his career in the Negro and semi-pro leagues. During these exhibitions, he played against the white ballplayers he wasn't allowed to join in the majors.

Babe Ruth headed up one of the exhibition teams Paige would play on, though he never pitched against Ruth. Whenever Satchel was on the mound, the Babe was always conveniently riding the bench. Paige was able to fan the best hitters in the majors, and in one particular game, on the west coast during those barnstorming days, he struck out 22 major leaguers, which would have been a big league record.

In early 1931 he joined the Pittsburgh Crawfords for $750 a month, a great salary at that time, and he stuck with this ball club during six regular seasons. In 1934, he married Janet Howard, a waitress who worked in a restaurant he frequented, and she moved with him out west, where he spent a season earning top dollar with an all-white team in Bismarck, North Dakota. At one point during this time, he set a never-to-be-duplicated record of pitching 29 games in a single month.

After a year in North Dakota, however, Paige returned to the Pittsburgh Crawfords. Life out west was difficult, and he couldn't find housing for him and his wife—in fact, they were forced to live in an abandoned railroad freight car. In his autobiography, Maybe I'll Pitch Forever, he says he was a wandering man, "but Janet was against all that wandering. She wanted a man who ran a store or something and came home every night, a guy who'd never leave her and if he had to go somewhere he'd be the kind to take her with him. I wasn't that kind at all back in those days," Paige wrote. He didn't want to be tied down, and with a reputation for carousing, drinking, staying out late and free spending, Janet and Satchel wouldn't see much of each other in the nine years they were married.

When he returned to the Crawfords, however, Paige discovered that he had been banned from the Negro Leagues for breaking his contract with the Pittsburgh ball club. The ban would last only a year, and in 1937 Paige headed to the Dominican Republic to play with the Trujillo Stars for a salary of $30,000, equivalent to the best the major leagues were offering at the time. In spite of the money, however, Paige found himself with financial problems. He spent too much on his wife, on clothes and cars, and on shotguns and fishing. Things seemed to be steadily declining, and in 1938, while playing in the Mexican Leagues, Paige suffered a career-threatening injury to his shoulder while pitching in Mexico City.

Unsure about what to do, he sought coaching jobs with teams around the Negro Leagues, but his lackluster reputation as a rabble-rouser preceded him. Ralph Wilkinson, owner of the Kansas City Monarchs, decided to buy out the remainder of Paige's contract and invited him to travel with the Monarchs B-team throughout the northwest and Canada. In 1939, with his shoulder better, he joined the Monarchs A-team as their ace pitcher, leading them to the Negro League World Series—and the series titles—in 1939, 1940, and 1941.

For Paige, there never really was an off season. Back then, as is still common today, pitchers would throw every four to five days, then rest at the season's end. Throughout his career, Paige would continue on the exhibition circuit, playing year-round to earn extra money, barnstorming in small towns, and facing many great major-leaguers before they were famous (men such such as Dizzy Dean and Joe DiMaggio).

In The Big Leagues

In 1946, the Brooklyn Dodgers signed Jackie Robinson to play in the majors, at long last breaking the color barrier. Other teams soon followed suit and two years later, Bill Veeck, the owner of the Cleveland Indians, signed Satchel Paige to a contract. He was 42 years old, and many critics believed this was a publicity stunt designed by Veeck to bring more fans into the stadium.

The Indians were in the middle of a pennant race, and Veeck saw Paige as a valuable asset. Satchel had become the seventh black player recruited into the majors, and, in his debut start, in spite of his age and the skepticism of many critics, Paige pitched a 5-0 shutout over the Chicago White Sox. The savvy of Paige as an entertainer, and the hype surrounding the Indians' owner in recruiting Satchel, paid off. He went 6-1 in his first ever major league season, with a 2.47 earned run average (ERA), helping the Indians into the World Series.

Paige played only two seasons with the Indians, soon becoming a burden on the team, missing meetings, trains, warm-ups, and falling mostly on his old habits from the Negro League days when he answered, essentially, to no one. When Paige was nearly 60, the Kansas City Athletics signed him to a contract in what most people also considered a publicity stunt. This was 1965, and he would pitch only three innings that season, with the promise of one more season, so that he could earn his big league pension. The Athletics failed to honor their word, however, and let Satchel go. He would eventually get his pension in 1969, while working as a pitching coach with the Atlanta Braves. The team put him on the roster so he could retire with a major league pension.

Though he rarely showed any anger over segregation, Paige felt all along—and rightly so—that he belonged in the majors. Indeed, he had countless off-seasons of pitching to, and decimating, many major league ballplayers. Mark Ribowsky wrote, "For all of his out-ward gaiety and nonchalance, Paige was deeply offended by the color line that kept him from playing in the major leagues." A New York Times correspondent, Dave Anderson, stated, "To the end, Satchel Paige had too much dignity to complain loudly about never being in the big leagues when he deserved to be."

Paige had married Lahoma Brown, a longtime friend, in 1947, a woman who brought stability to his life. Following his playing years he spent some time in the minor leagues as a coach with the Tulsa Oilers. Eventually he settled down in Kansas City with his wife and eight children.

Due Recognition

Satchel Paige was inducted into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971. Today, Paige's plaque sits alongside the other great major leaguers who grace the halls in Cooperstown. Though he never played major league ball in his prime, Paige will stand in his rightful place forever as one of the greats. "Baseball turned Paige from a second-class citizen to a second-class immortal," he said in his induction speech.

Paige was one of the game's true talents, and in spite of almost insurmountable odds, he dominated a sport and was instrumental in helping break down the color barriers—not through any activism, but by sheer talent, showmanship and determination. The first black pitcher to play in the major leagues and a man who pitched—and won—more games than any other baseball player in history, Paige's accomplishments and his contributions to making baseball what it is today will not be forgotten.

SELECTED WRITINGS BY PAIGE:

(With Hal Lebovitz) Pitchin'Man. Meckler Publishing, 1992.

(As told to David Lipman) Maybe I'll Pitch Forever. University of Nebraska Press, 1993.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Books

Cline-Ransome, Lesa and James Ransome (Illus.). Satchel Paige. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999.

Contemporary Black Biography, Vol. 7. Detroit, MI: Gale, 1998.

Costas, Bob, and Sterry and Eckstut, eds. Satchel Sez: The Wit, Wisdom, and World of Leroy 'Satchel'Paige. New York: Crown, 2001.

Holway, John. Josh and Satch: The Life and Times of Josh Gibson and Satchel Paige. Westport: Meckler, 1992.

Humphrey, Kathryn L. Satchel Paige. New York: Franklin Watts, 1988.

"Leroy Robert Paige." The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives, Volume 1: 1981-1985. New York: Charles Scribner's & Sons, 1998.

Macht, Norman L. Satchel Paige. New York: Chelsea House, 1991.

Paige, Leroy, as told to David Lipman. Maybe I'll Pitch Forever: A Great Baseball Player Tells the Hilarious Story Behind the Legend. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1993.

Paige, Leroy, as told to Hal Lebovitz. Pitchin'Man: Satchel Paige's Own Story. Westport: Meckler, 1993.

Reisler, Jim. Black Writers/Black Baseball: An Anthology of Articles from Black Sportswriters Who Covered the Negro Leagues. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co., 1994.

Ribowsky, Mark. Don't Look Back: Satchel Paige in the Shadows of Baseball. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1994.

Riley, James A. Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues. New York: Carroll and Graf Publishers, 1994.

Rubin, Robert. Satchel Paige: All-Time Baseball Great. New York: G.P. Putnam's & Sons, 1994.

"Satchel Paige." Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd ed. Detroit, MI: Gale, 1998.

"Satchel Paige." Notable Black American Men. Detroit, MI: Gale, 1998.

"Satchel Paige." St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture. 5 vols. Detroit, MI: St. James Press, 2000.

Shirley, David. Satchel Paige. New York: Chelsea House, 1993.

Thorn, John, and Pete Palmer, eds. Total Baseball: The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Baseball. 3rd ed. New York: Harper Perennial, 1993.

Periodicals

Durso, Joseph. "Satchel Paige, Black Pitching Star, Is Dead at 75." New York Times (June 9, 1982): D-20.

Ebony (September 1982): 74-8.

Greene, James "Joe" and John Holway. "I Was Satchel's Catcher." Journal of Popular Culture. (1972) (6)1: 157-70.

Holway, John B. "The Kid Who Taught Satchel Paige A Lesson." Baseball Research Journal (1987) 16:36-44.

Newsweek (June 1, 1981): 12.

Reader's Digest (April 1984): 89-93.

Sports Illustrated (June 21, 1982): 9.

Other

"The Official Satchel Paige Homepage." http://www.cmgww.com/baseball/paige/index.html.

"Paige, Leroy Robert." BaseballLibrary.com. http://www.pubdim.net/baseballlibrary/ballplayers

"Paige, Leroy Robert." Baseball-Reference.com. http://www.baseball-reference.com.

Sketch by Eric Lagergren