AMERICA AT LARGE: A new book celebrates the life of legendary American baseball pitcher, Leroy Paige, writes GEORGE KIMBALL
HE DEBUTED with the Cleveland Indians on July 9th, 1948, and pitched two scoreless innings in a 4-1 loss to the St Louis Browns. A week later in Philadelphia, pitching in relief of fellow Hall of Famer Bob Lemon, he recorded his first major league victory in an 8- 5, comeback win over the Athletics. He didn't start a game until August 3rd of that year, but when he did, more than 75,000 people packed into Cleveland's Municipal Stadium for the occasion, a 3-2 win over the Athletics.
By the season's end he was 6-1 with an earned run average of 2.48, second-best in the American League. Though instrumental in helping the Indians win their first pennant in 28 years, he only pitched once as Cleveland took four of six games from the Braves to win the '48 World Series. (The Indians haven't won one since.)
You can read the rest of this great story at: http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/yb/132502491
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