Athletes - Satchel Paige

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	Athletes - Satchel Paige

Leroy Robert "Satchel" Paige (July 7 1906 - June 8 1982) was an American right-handed pitcher in the Negro Leagues and Major League Baseball who is considered to be among the greatest pitchers of all time.

Pre-professional career

Paige was born on July 7 1906 (or thereabout), the seventh child of twelve (including a set of twins) to John Page, a gardener, and Lula Coleman Page, a domestic worker, in the Mobile, Alabama slum known as South Bay. When asked about the year Satchel was born, his mother said, "I can't rightly recall whether Leroy was first born or my fifteenth." On a separate occasion, Lula Paige confided to a sportswriter that her son was actually three years older than he thought he was. A few years later she has another epiphany – he was, she said, two years older. She knew this because she wrote it down in her Bible.

When Paige wrote his memoirs in 1962, he wasn't convinced about that version. He wrote, "Seems like Mom's Bible would know, but she ain't never shown me the Bible. Anyway, she was in her nineties when she told the reporter that and sometimes she tended to forget things."

Any apparent ambiguity about Paige's age was furthered, thanks to the efforts of Bill Veeck, Paige's frequent employer in his later years. Ever the consummate showman, Veeck liked to promote the notion of Paige being "ageless".

Satchel, his siblings and his mother changed the spelling of their name from Page to Paige sometime in the late 1920s or early 1930s. It is said they did this because they wanted to distance themselves from anything having to do with John Page.

Paige got his nickname Satchel from a friend and next door neighbor, Wilber Hines, when they used to go down to the Louisville and Nashville Railroad station and carry bags for the passengers for money. Hines gave him the name the day Paige got caught trying to steal one of the bags that he was carrying.

On July 24 1918, at age 12, Paige was sent to the Industrial School for Negro Children in Mount Meigs, Alabama for shoplifting and truancy from W.C. Council School. There he developed his pitching skills under the guidance of Edward Byrd. It was Byrd that taught Paige how to kick his front foot high and to release the ball at the last possible instant. After his release, shortly before Christmas of 1923, Paige joined the semi-pro Mobile Tigers where his brother Wilson was already playing. Also on the team was future Negro League stars Ted Radcliffe and Bobby Robinson.

Pitching for the semi-pro team named the Down the Bay Boys, Paige got into a jam in the ninth inning of a 1-0 ballgame. Angry at himself, he stomped around the mound, kicking up dirt. The fans started booing him, so he decided that “somebody was going to have to pay for that.” He called in his outfielders and had them squat in the infield. With the fans and his own teammates howling, Paige worked his way out of the jam and made a name for himself.

Negro Leagues

The early years

A former friend from the Mobile slums, Alex Herman, was the player/manager for the Chattanooga Black Lookouts of the Negro Southern League. He discovered Paige and wanted to sign him to a $50 per month contract. Lula Paige didn’t want any part of it until Herman promised to send her a stipend extracted from Satchel’s salary.

Paige was used sparingly in 1926; on June 22 he got the starting job against the Albany Giants and ended up giving up 13 runs in the loss. It was during a game against the Memphis Red Sox that Bill “Plunk” Drake taught Paige the hesitation pitch that Paige would make famous. For the 1927 season, Paige was given a raise to $200 per month and a slick Ford Model-A roadster. After just a few games, Paige abandoned the Lookouts for the $276 per month the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro National League were willing to pay.

Pitching for the Barons, Paige was wild and awkward and didn’t want to take advice on how to pitch from his manager, Bill Gatewood. During a game on June 27, 1927, against Cool Papa Bell
’s St. Louis Stars, Paige incited a riot by beaning three consecutive Stars players. Finally Paige accepted help with his mechanics from Sam Streeter and Harry Salmon. He finished the season 8-3 with 80 strikeouts and 19 walks in 93 innings.

Over the next 2 seasons, Paige went 23-25 while setting the Negro League single season strikeout record in 1929 with 184 including the then record of 17 in one game against the Detroit Stars. Due to his increased earning potential, Barons owner R. T. Jackson would “rent” Paige out to other ball clubs for a game or two to draw a decent crowd, with both Jackson and Paige taking a cut.
[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Satchel Paige ]

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Athletes - Satchel Paige

Pre-professional career

Negro Leagues

The early years

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