Remembering a baseball great with Alabama roots
Photos courtesy of the National Baseball Hall of Fame Library in Cooperstown, NY.
“Don’t look back. Something might be gaining on you.”
That’s pretty good advice on someone’s birthday.
Today would have been the 109th birthday of the man who said it, Baseball Hall of Famer and Negro Leagues legend Leroy Robert “Satchel” Paige.
Paige was born (it is estimated) on July 7, 1906 in Mobile. He grew up with 11 brothers and sisters. He earned his nickname as a young train station porter when he fashioned a pole that could carry multiple suitcases and bags.
After some legal troubles, Paige attended the Industrial School for Negro Children in Mount Meigs, a reform school where he learned to throw a baseball with speed and precision. “You might say I traded five years of freedom to learn how to pitch,” he said.
In 1926, Paige joined the Negro Southern League, playing for the Chattanooga Black Barons. His talent got him promoted to the Negro Leagues, where he played for the Pittsburgh Crawfords and then for the Kansas City Monarchs.
Barred from the major leagues by the color line, Paige “barnstormed” across the country, facing the best major league hitters hundreds of times a year in exhibition games.
New York Yankee centerfielder Joe DiMaggio called Paige “the best and fastest pitcher I’ve ever faced.”
And St. Louis Cardinals star Dizzy Dean said, “If Satch and I were pitching on the same team, we’d clinch the pennant by the Fourth of July and go fishing until World Series time.”
It wasn’t until 1948, one year after Jackie Robinson began playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers, that Paige broke into the majors. Bill Veeck, owner of the Cleveland Indians, signed him on July 7, Paige’s 42nd birthday.
Paige’s record that year was 6-1 with a 2.48 ERA. He helped the Indians win the championship, becoming the first African-American to pitch in a World Series.
In 1971, Paige, whose final appearance on a major league mound was at age 59, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
“He was easily the greatest pitcher in the history of the Negro Leagues, and arguably in the history of baseball,” said Larry Powell, Communications Studies professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and author of Black Barons of Birmingham: The South’s Greatest Negro League Team and Its Players. “His pickoff move was so good it could fool both the runner and the first baseman.”
Chris Morgan, general manager of the Mobile BayBears, said the club plans to recognize Paige with an in-game video and social media tributes.
“He means a lot to Mobile and to baseball,” said Morgan, who noted that Hank Aaron Stadium is on a road that intersects Satchel Paige Boulevard. “Mobile has been home to several Hall of Famers, including Hank Aaron and Paige. It’s a real draw for fans and important to this community.”
Paige was celebrated for more than his arm. He was one of baseball’s most colorful characters, often sharing his philosophy of life. Like his contemporary Yogi Berra, he became famous for his quotes. Among them:
“Age is a question of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.”
“Ain’t no man can avoid being born average, but there ain’t no man got to be common.”
“I never rush myself. They can’t start the game without me.”
“You win a few, you lose a few. Some get rained out. But you got to dress for all of them.”
“Work like you don’t need the money. Love like you’ve never been hurt. Dance like nobody’s watching.”
“Don’t look back. Something might be gaining on you.”
The BayBears play the Pensacola Blue Wahoos July 7 at 7:05 p.m. For more information, log onto the team’s website.
And click here for the Alabama NewsCenter story on the new Negro Southern League Museum in Birmingham, which is nearing completion.
Sources:
The official Satchel Paige website
