Satchel Paige (1906 - 1982)

Kansas City, Missouri

Satchel Paige was a famous African American baseball pitcher who helped break down racial barriers in professional sports. His incredible speed, skill, and showmanship made him a national baseball hero. He pitched in the Negro Leagues before joining the major leagues in 1948. In 1971 Paige became the first player from the Negro Leagues elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

1910 Census 1910 Census.

The 1910 census shows Leroy with his parents and older siblings in Mobile, Alabama. At some point the family changed their name from Page to Paige.

[1910 U.S. Census, Mobile County, Alabama]

Leroy “Satchel” Paige was born July 7, 1906, in Mobile, Alabama. He was the seventh child of twelve born to John and Lula Coleman Paige. Satchel’s father was a gardner and his mother worked as a domestic servant. Because John Paige was often unemployed, the family lived in poverty. In his autobiography, Paige remembered, “We played in the dirt because we didn’t have toys. We threw rocks. There wasn’t anything else to throw.”

Mobile, Alabama Mobile, Alabama.

Many poor African Americans in Mobile, Alabama, would have lived in housing much like these row houses.

[Courtesy of the Library of Congress, photographer Arthur Rothstein]

As Satchel grew older, he helped support his family. He collected empty bottles for resale, delivered ice, and worked as a baggage porter at Mobile’s Louisville & Nashville’s rail depot.

On one occasion when Satchel was loaded down with bags, another porter told him, “You look like a walking satchel tree.” It was then, Satchel later recalled, “LeRoy Paige became no more and Satchel Paige took over.”

Satchel rarely attended school. Instead, he skipped class to play baseball and fish in Mobile Bay. Satchel soon developed a reputation as the best school-age pitcher in Mobile’s black section, but he could not stay out of trouble.

   Alabama Reform School Alabama Reform School.

The Alabama Reform School for Juvenile Negro Lawbreakers was established in 1911. Today, the facility is a part of the Alabama Department of Youth Services.

[Courtesy of Rivers A. Langley]

In 1918 twelve-year-old Satchel was convicted of shoplifting and was sentenced to five years in the Alabama Reform School for Juvenile Negro Lawbreakers. Satchel attended class, worked on the school farm, joined the school choir, and became a member of the drum and bugle corps.

He honed his skills as a baseball player under the direction of Coach Edward Byrd. Coach Byrd showed Satchel how to use his physical skill and strength to become a powerful and proficient right-handed pitcher. Most importantly, Byrd taught Satchel that he could not depend on his physical talent alone—he would also have to outwit his opponents. By studying a batter’s stance, the placement of his feet, and the position of his bat, Satchel could determine the player’s weaknesses at the plate.

Satchel was paroled on December 31, 1923, with “an excellent record.” He later said, “Those five and a half years there did something for me—they made a man out of me. If I’d been left on the streets of Mobile to wander with those kids I’d been running around with, I’d of ended up as a big bum, a crook. You might say I traded five years of freedom to learn how to pitch.”

   1935 Pittsburgh Crawfords 1935 Pittsburgh Crawfords.

Considered to be one of the best teams in the Negro League, the Pittsburgh Crawfords included important players such as Oscar Charleston, Jimmie Crutchfield, Judy Johnson, Josh Gibson, and James “Cool Papa” Bell.

[Malvin R. Goode Papers, 1911-2001 (C1706), The State Historical Society of Missouri, Manuscript Collection-Columbia]

After baseball became segregated in 1889, blacks were prohibited from playing in the major leagues. In response, black baseball players formed their own semi-professional and professional baseball leagues that were collectively referred to as the “Negro Leagues.”

Paige returned home and joined the black semi-professional Mobile Tigers. It was then, he said, “I gave up kid’s baseball—baseball just for fun—and started baseball as a career.” At six foot three inches tall, the lanky right-handed pitcher quickly developed a reputation as a formidable opponent.

In 1924, playing for the Tigers, Paige won an estimated thirty games with only one loss. In 1926 he joined the professional Chattanooga Black Lookouts for two successful seasons. Paige then spent the next several years going from team to team in search of a more lucrative paycheck.

Among the Negro League teams he played for between 1927 and 1947 were the Birmingham Black Barons, Baltimore Black Sox, Cleveland Cubs, Pittsburgh Crawfords, Kansas City Monarchs, New York Black Yankees, and Memphis Red Sox.

Al Lopez Field Al Lopez Field.

The Al Lopez Field in Tampa, Florida, had white and colored seating for baseball fans. The field opened in March 1955.

[Malvin R. Goode Papers, 1911-2001 (C1706), The State Historical Society of Missouri, Manuscript Collection-Columbia]

When not playing with a team, Paige and other black players formed freelance barnstorming teams that toured the country playing other teams in exhibition games to make extra money. Paige spent long hours on the road and rarely saw his wife when barnstorming across the country. Life on the road was not easy for black players and they regularly endured racist taunts from spectators. Due to segregation, they were not allowed to stay at hotels where whites lodged or dine at restaurants used by whites. Paige refused to play in towns where he could not get a hotel room or a meal.

   C. A. Franklin Letter, 1943 C. A. Franklin Letter, 1943.

The editor of Kansas City’s black newspaper, The Call, made a plea to Congressman C. Jasper Bell in 1943 to allow the mid-western Negro League teams to continue to use their buses on the grounds that they needed to travel out of town to find lodging and food. President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration had issued an order limiting the use of buses to conserve gasoline during war time.

[C. Jasper Bell Papers, 1934-1948 (C2306), The State Historical Society of Missouri Manuscript Collection-Columbia]

Despite the prevailing racism of the era, Paige attracted white spectators with his dazzling pitching skills. He could throw a variety of pitches with accuracy and speed that few could match. He gave his pitches colorful names such as “jump ball, bee ball, screw ball, woobly ball, whipsy-dipsy-do, a hurry-up ball, a nothin’ ball, and a bat dodger.”

Paige used his arsenal of different pitches to confuse batters. He might sidearm the ball across the plate, follow with a fastball, and then throw his signature “hesitation pitch” in which he would hesitate during his wind-up, often messing up the batter’s timing.

Kansas City Monarchs Kansas City Monarchs.

Paige spent a lot of time on the road playing regular season games and celebrity games.

[Helen Stephens Papers, 1931-1995 (C3552), The State Historical Society of Missouri, Manuscript Collection-Columbia]

In 1938, while playing baseball in Mexico, Paige injured his pitching arm. At the age of thirty-two, he feared his career was over. J.L. Wilkinson, owner of the Kansas City Monarchs, signed Paige to play first base for his second-string team, the Kansas City Travelers. Although many believed his days on the pitcher’s mound were finished, Paige miraculously recovered the following year, and joined the Kansas City Monarchs.

On October 26, 1934, Paige married Janet Howard. He married Lucy “Luz” Maria Figueroa in 1940 while playing ball in Puerto Rico. Because he had not divorced his first wife, Paige’s marriage to Figueroa was not legal. He divorced his first wife in 1943. Paige later married Lahoma Brown and together the couple had seven children.

   Jackie Robinson Jackie Robinson.

In 1947 Jack Roosevelt Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball when he signed on with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

[Helen Stephens Papers, 1931-1995 (C3552), The State Historical Society of Missouri, Manuscript Collection-Columbia]

In 1947, Jackie Robinson became the first African American to play major league baseball in the twentieth century. In his autobiography, Paige declared, “I’d been the guy who’d started all that big talk about letting us in the big time. I’d been the one who’d opened up the major league parks to colored teams. I’d been the one who the white boys wanted to barnstorm against…It still was me that ought to have been first.” Paige, at age forty-one, was viewed by many to be too old to play in the major leagues.

One year after Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers, Paige signed with the Cleveland Indians. At forty-two years old, he was the oldest rookie to play in the major leagues. Paige’s pitching helped the Cleveland Indians beat the Boston Braves to win the 1948 World Series. He was the first African American athlete to play in a World Series.

Kansas City Municipal Stadium, 1960s Kansas City Municipal Stadium, 1960s.

The Kansas City Municipal Stadium was home to both the Monarchs and the Athletics. Paige ended his playing career at this stadium. It was torn down in 1976.

[Courtesy of the Missouri State Archives, Ralph Walker photographer]

Paige stayed with the Indians for one more season and then played for the St. Louis Browns for three years. He played his final season in the major leagues in 1965 with the Kansas City Athletics. In order to qualify for his Major League Baseball pension, Paige briefly joined the Atlanta Braves in 1968 as a pitching coach.

In 1971 Paige became the first player from the Negro Leagues elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

1948 World Series

1948 World Series.

The Indians beat the Braves in the 1948 World Series.

[St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Oct. 11, 1948, Page 4B] 1948 World Series.

Satchel Paige played for a brief time in the fifth game of the 1948 World Series for the Cleveland Indians.

[Kansas City Star, October 11, 1948, Page 16, Column 5]

LeRoy “Satchel” Paige died of a heart attack on June 8, 1982, in Kansas City, Missouri. He is buried in Forest Hill Memorial Park Cemetery in Kansas City, Missouri.

Because much of his forty-three year career was spent in the Negro Leagues where record keeping was spotty, it is difficult to document Satchel Paige’s lifetime career statistics. It is clear, however, that Paige won the respect of his peers—both white and black—during his time in baseball. Today he is widely recognized as one of the greatest pitchers in baseball history.

Legendary Boston Red Sox slugger Ted Williams claimed, “Paige was the greatest pitcher in baseball.” Famed New York Yankee Joe DiMaggio said Satchel Paige was the “best and fastest pitcher I’ve ever faced.” Celebrated St. Louis Cardinal pitcher Dizzy Dean remarked, “He’s a better pitcher than I ever hope to be.” Homestead Grays first baseman and Hall of Famer Buck Leonard declared, “He threw fire.”

Paige’s showmanship, athleticism, and personality attracted both white and black audiences. He proved that black athletes could compete with and beat their white counterparts, helping pave the way for fellow African Americans to join Major League Baseball.