Leroy "Satchel" Paige
By Ross Buehre
A Biography on Satchel Paige
Leroy “Satchel” Paige was born on July 7, 1906. There was a lot of confusion early on in his life and even later about when exactly was his birthday. About two weeks before his thirteenth birthday he was arrested for shoplifting. Because of this he resulted in being forced to go to a reform school, but was released six months early. Also, Satchel developed his pitching motion there and learned how to pitch there. Satchel supposedly got his nickname from a kid that said he looked like a walking satchel tree.
Satchel played baseball both in the Negro Leagues and the MLB. He played for numerous teams. He was played for the Chattanooga Black Lookouts, the next few seasons from 1927-1930 he played for the Birmingham Black Barons. Then went and played for the Baltimore Black Sox for one season. Then again switched teams to the Cleveland Cubs for just one year. Then switched teams again and played for the Pittsburgh Crawfords. And Satchel also played for the Kansas City Monarchs. Which he also won a World Series with the Monarchs. In 1937 he played for Trujillo All-Stars. Then also played for the New York Black Yankees. The next team Satchel played for was the Memphis Red Sox in 1943. The last team he played for in the Negro Leagues was the Philadelphia Stars. Then he became the oldest rookie the MLB had ever seen at the age of 42. He played for the Cleveland Indians, then the St. Louis Browns then finally for the Kansas City Athletics. He also won a World Series for the Cleveland Indians.
There were numerous things that Satchel liked from the 1920’s. He probably liked consumerism because there were all these new things that made life easier and he could use them. Satchel probably also liked cars so that he could travel a lot easier. One thing that he did NOT like at all was the KKK because they did not want the races to be integrated and clearly Satchel did and he spoke about how the Negro Leagues and the MLB need to integrate.
Some interesting things about him was that he has the record for being the oldest rookie in the MLB. He played and coached in many different leagues, he also got to play with Jackie Robinson. Also, he was inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame in 1971. He was the first player to be inducted into the hall of fame based on how he played in the Negro Leagues. Also, Satchel liked the Harlem Renaissance and probably liked a lot of the culture changes. He was also one of the new sports heroes. Satchel made a big impact he made the next generation want to play baseball, and he was a big sports hero for many people.