Satchel Paige

Major Leagues

The Cleveland Indians

On July 9, 1948, with the St. Louis Browns beating the Indians 4-1 in the bottom of the fourth inning, Boudreau pulled his starting pitcher, Bob Lemon, and sent Paige in. Paige, not knowing the signs and not wanting to cross his catcher up, didn?t put too much on his first pitch, which Chuck Stevens lined into left field. Gerry Priddy bunted Stevens over to second. Up next was Whitey Platt, and Paige had had enough. He threw an overhand server for a strike and one sidearm for another strike. Paige then threw his Hesitation Pitch which put Platt in such a funk that he threw his bat forty feet up the third base line. Browns manager Zack Taylor bolted from the dugout to talk to umpire Bill McGowan about the pitch, claiming it was a balk, but McGowan let it stand as a strike. Paige then got Al Zarilla to fly out to end the inning. The following inning he gave up a leadoff single, but with his catcher having simplified his signals, Paige got the next batter to hit into a double play, followed by a pop fly. Larry Doby pinch hit for Paige the following inning.

Related Topics:
July 9 - 1948 - St. Louis Browns - Bob Lemon - Chuck Stevens - Gerry Priddy - Whitey Platt - Zack Taylor - Bill McGowan - Balk - Al Zarilla - Larry Doby

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Paige got his first big league victory on July 15, 1948, the night after he pitched in an exhibition game against the Brooklyn Dodgers in front of 65,000 people in Cleveland?s Municipal Stadium. It came at Philadelphia?s Shibe Park. The Indians were up 5-3 and the bases were loaded in the sixth inning of the second game of a double header. He got Eddie Joost to fly out to end the inning, but gave up two runs the next inning when Ferris Fain doubled and Hank Majeski hit a home run. Paige buckled down and gave up only one more hit the rest of the game, getting five of the next six outs on fly balls. Larry Doby and Ken Keltner hit home runs in the ninth to give the Indians an 8-5 victory.

Related Topics:
July 15 - 1948 - Brooklyn Dodgers - Municipal Stadium - Philadelphia - Shibe Park - Eddie Joost - Ferris Fain - Hank Majeski - Home run - Ken Keltner

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Longtime Chicago Cubs broadcaster Jack Brickhouse once said with amusement that Paige "threw a lot of pitches that were not quite 'legal' and not quite 'illegal'".

Related Topics:
Chicago Cubs - Jack Brickhouse

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American League President Will Harridge eventually ruled the Hesitation Pitch definitely illegal and if thrown again it would result in a balk. Paige said, ?I guess Mr. Harridge didn?t want me to show up those boys who were young enough to be my sons.?

Related Topics:
Will Harridge - Balk

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On August 3, 1948, with the Indians one game behind the Athletics, Boudreau started Paige against the Washington Senators in Cleveland. The 72,562 people that saw the game set a new attendance record for a major league night game. Nervous, Paige walked two of the first three batters and then gave up a triple to Bud Stewart to fall behind 2-0. By the time he came out in the seventh, the Indians were up 4-2 and held on to give him his second victory.

Related Topics:
August 3 - 1948 - Washington Senators - Bud Stewart

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His next start was at Comiskey Park in Chicago. 51,013 people paid to see the game, but many thousands more stormed the turnstiles and crashed into the park, overwhelming the few dozen ticket-takers. Paige went the distance, shutting out the White Sox 5-0, debunking the assumption that nine innings of pitching was now beyond his capabilities.

Related Topics:
Comiskey Park - Chicago - White Sox

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The Indians were in a heated pennant race on August 20, 1948. Coming into the game against the White Sox, Bob Lemon, Gene Bearden and Sam Zoldak had thrown shutouts to run up a thirty-inning scoreless streak, eleven shy of the big league record. 201,829 people had come to see his last three starts. For this game in Cleveland, 78,382 people came to see Paige, a full 6,000 more people than when he last broke the night attendance record. Paige went the distance, giving up two singles and one double for his second consecutive three hit shutout. At that point in the season, Paige was 5-1 with an astoundingly low 1.33 ERA. He made one appearance in the 1948 World Series. He pitched for two-thirds of an inning in Game Two while the Indians were trailing the Boston Braves, giving up a sacrifice fly to Warren Spahn, got called for a balk and struck out Tommy Holmes. The Indians ended up winning the series in six games. Paige ended the year with a 6-1 record with a 2.48 ERA, 45 strikeouts, 2 shutouts and 2 base hits.

Related Topics:
August 20 - 1948 - Bob Lemon - Gene Bearden - Sam Zoldak - ERA - 1948 World Series - Boston Braves - Sacrifice fly - Warren Spahn - Tommy Holmes

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The year 1949 wasn?t nearly as good for Paige as 1948. He ended the season with a 4-7 record and was 1-3 in his starts with a 3.04 ERA. After the season, with Veeck selling the team to pay for his divorce, the Indians gave Paige his unconditional release.

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The St. Louis Browns

Paige, penniless, returned to his barnstorming days after being released from the Indians. In 1950, he signed with the Philadelphia Stars in the Eastern Division of the Negro American League for $800 per game.

Related Topics:
1950 - Philadelphia Stars - Negro American League

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When Veeck bought an eighty percent interest in the St. Louis Browns, the first thing he did was sign Paige. In his first game back in the major leagues, on July 18, 1950, against the Washington Senators. Paige pitched six innings of shutout baseball, but was roughed up in the seventh, giving up three runs. He ended the season with a 3-4 record and a 4.79 ERA.

Related Topics:
July 18 - 1950

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In 1952, Rogers Hornsby, an alleged former member of the Ku Klux Klan, took over as manager of the Browns. Despite his history of racism, Hornsby was less hesitant to use Paige than Boudreau was four years before. Paige was so effective that when Hornsby was fired by Veeck, his successor Marty Marion seemed not to want to risk going more than three games without using Paige in some form. By July 4, with Paige having worked in 25 games, Casey Stengel named him to the American League All-Star team, making him the first black pitcher on an AL All-Star team. The All-Star game was cut short after five innings due to rain and Paige never got in. Stengel resolved to name him to the team the following year. Paige finished the year 12-10 with a 3.07 ERA for a team that lost ninety games.

Related Topics:
1952 - Rogers Hornsby - Ku Klux Klan - Marty Marion - July 4 - Casey Stengel - All-Star

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Stengel kept to his word and name Paige to the 1953 All-Star team despite Paige not having a very good year. He got in the game in the eighth inning. First Paige got Gil Hodges to line out, then after Roy Campanella singled up the middle, Eddie Mathews popped out. He then walked Duke Snider and Enos Slaughter lined a hit to center to score Campanella. National League pitcher Murry Dickson drove in Snider, but was thrown out at second base trying to stretch the hit into a double. Paige ended the year with a disappointing 3-9 record, but a respectable 3.53 ERA. Paige was released after the season when Veeck once again had to sell the team.

Related Topics:
Gil Hodges - Eddie Mathews - Duke Snider - Enos Slaughter - Murry Dickson

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Paige once again returned to his barnstorming days with Abe Saperstein. They formed a baseball version of Saperstein?s Harlem Globetrotters. Paige then joined the real Globetrotters when he joined one of their most popular ?reams? ? the ?baseball routine.? Paige would ?pitch? the basketball to Goose Tatum, who would ?bat? the ball with his arms, run around the ?bases? and slide ?home? safely. Although he was making a decent living, Paige grew tired of the constant travel. His family had grown with the birth of his fourth child and first son, Robert Leroy.

Related Topics:
Abe Saperstein - Harlem Globetrotters - Goose Tatum

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Paige then signed for $300 a month and a percentage of the gate to play for the Monarchs again. Then, on August 14, 1955, Paige signed a contract with the Greensboro Patriots of the Carolina League. He was scheduled to pitch at home three days later against the Philadelphia Phillies farm team, the Reidsville Luckies, but before he could suit up, Phillies farm director Eddie Collins wired George Trautman, president of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, to protest Paige?s appearance. Trautman, dealing with the integration of southern baseball against a Jim Crow backdrop, ruled that the signing was invalid, but the Greensboro team reminded him that the Carolina League had already approved the contract. Trautman then ruled that Greensboro could only use Paige in exhibition games. Unfortunately, Greensboro had already scheduled Paige to pitch in a regular season game which was sold out in advance and couldn?t change it to an exhibition. In the end, the game was canceled when Hurricane Diane hit the Carolinas.

Related Topics:
August 14 - 1955 - Greensboro Patriots - Carolina League - Philadelphia Phillies - Reidsville Luckies - Eddie Collins - George Trautman - National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues - Jim Crow - Greensboro - Hurricane Diane

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Bill Veeck once again came to Paige?s rescue when, after taking control of the Phillies' triple-A farm team, the Miami Marlins of the International League, he signed Paige to a contract for $15,000 and a percentage of the gate. Marlins manager Don Osborn didn?t want Paige and said that he would only use him in exhibition games. Veeck made a deal with Osborn that he could line up his best nine hitters, rotating them in from their positions in the field, and Veeck agreed to pay ten dollars to any of them who get a clean hit off of Paige. Paige retired all nine and Osborn agreed to make Paige a roster player. In Paige?s first game as a Marlin, he pitched a complete-game, four hit, shutout. Osborn, a former minor league pitcher, taught Paige the proper way to throw a curveball, which allowed Paige to tear through the International League. Paige finished the season 11-4 with an ERA of 1.86 with 79 strikeouts and only 28 walks. This time, when Veeck left the team, Paige was allowed to stay on, for two more years.

Related Topics:
Miami Marlins - International League - Don Osborn

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In 1957 the Marlins finished in sixth place, but Paige had a 10-8 record with 76 strikeouts versus 11 walks and 2.42 ERA. The following year, Osborn was replaced as manager by Kerby Farrell who wasn?t as forgiving when it came to Paige missing curfews or workouts. He was fined several times throughout the year and finished 10-10, saying that he would not return to Miami the following season.

Related Topics:
1957 - Kerby Farrell

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After the season ended, Paige went to Durango, Mexico to appear in a United Artists movie, The Wonderful Country, starring Robert Mitchum and Julie London. Paige played Sgt. Tobe Sutton, a hard-bitten Union army cavalry sergeant of a segregated black unit. He was paid $10,000 to be in it, and the movie became the pride of his life.

Related Topics:
Durango, Mexico - United Artists - The Wonderful Country - Robert Mitchum - Julie London

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Paige was in and out of baseball, pitching sporadically, over the next decade.

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