AFRICAN AMERICANLEROY ROBERT “SATCHEL” PAIGE

By: Kade Abbott

THE CAREER OF SATCHEL PAIGE

Paige was a right-handed pitcher and was the oldest rookie to play Major League Baseball at He first played for the semi-professional Mobile Tigers from 1924 to 1926 Paige began his professional career in 1926 with the Chattanooga Black Lookouts of the Negro Southern League, and played his last professional game on June 21, 1966, for the Peninsula Grays of the Carolina League.

SATCHEL PAIGE STATS AND AWARDS

Did you know ? He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1971. Satchel was over 40 years old the entire time he played

in the majors. He earned his nickname, "Satchel," as a young boy,

when he took a job carrying bags (and satchels) at railroad stations for passengers.

Satchel started his career in 1924 when he had a tryout with the Mobile Tigers, a semi-pro baseball team.

He went on to become the dominant pitcher of the Negro Leagues.

MORE STATS AND AWARDS When the Negro League wasn't playing in the winter, he would

go to the Caribbean leagues and pitch. He claimed that the more that he pitched, the stronger he got,

so he did not work out on his own. He started 29 games in one month in Bismarck, North Dakota. He claimed that he won 104 of the 105 games he pitched in

1934. He would face major league players annually by playing

against major league barnstorming teams. He was brought into the major leagues in 1948 by Bill Veeck

to play for Cleveland. He holds the record for being the oldest rookie in the Major

League.

MORE STATS AND AWARDS

In his first year with Cleveland, he went 6-1 with one save and a 2.48 ERA.

He ended his six-year major league career with a 28-31 record and a 3.29 ERA.

Joe DiMaggio called him "the best and fastest pitcher I've ever faced."

He retired in 1953. He made a special appearance in 1965, pitching 3 innings

for the Kansas City Athletics. Pitching for the Kansas City Athletics made him the oldest

player in the Major Leagues. Paige did not commit a single error in 179 major league

games.

FACTS

Position: P Born: July 7, 1906 Bats: Right Throws: Right Height: 6' 3" Weight: 180 lbs Major League Debut: 7-09-1948 with CLE Hall

of Fame: 1971

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.

GROWING UP

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.

PHOTOS OF SATCHEL PAIGE

THANK YOU

Thanks for watching my slide show.