Satchel Paige's honor completes big night for Mobile baseball

Paige was among the four greatest Negro Leagues players when the results of an online poll were announced during Major League Baseball's All-Star Game.

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Paige's recognition followed accolades for fellow Mobile natives Hank Aaron, Willie McCovey and Billy Williams at the All-Star Game, where former Mobile prep star Josh Donaldson started at third base for the American League.

Paige became a household name as a Negro Leagues pitcher and while barnstorming in the offseason with big-league players. Because of segregation, he didn't reach the Major Leagues until he was 42, but still managed to represent the St. Louis Browns in two All-Star Games. In 1971, Paige became the first player inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in recognition of his exploits in the Negro Leagues.

Satchel Paige's dazzling debut left a great impression on his opposition

http://www.examiner.com/article/satchel-paige-s-dazzling-debut-left-a-great-impression-on-his-opposition-1

Just two days after the record books said he turned 42, Satchel Paige made his major league debut with the Cleveland Indians on July 9, 1948 in front of a crowd of 34,780 at Cleveland Stadium. The sheer magnitude of the situation shouldn’t have fazed the legendary hurler, who once while pitching in the championship game of dictator Rafael Trujillo’s league in the Dominican Republic, was ordered to win the game under the threat of the machine gun toting militia. Yet, for Paige, toeing the rubber on major league soil brought a sense of high drama, shaking one of baseball’s most experienced moundsmen. “I felt those nerves … they were jumping every which way,” Paige recalled.

Standing at the plate for the St. Louis Browns was 29-year-old first baseman Chuck Stevens, who entered the game sporting a .252 batting average with one home run, certainly not the type of numbers that would rattle fear into opposing hurlers. While Paige admitted his nerves, Stevens on the other hand saw a familiar target. Back in the late 1930’s and early 1940’s, Paige would come out to Stevens’ California hometown of Long Beach to play winter ball. The two squared off many times before that fateful day. “I played against him about ten times before that night. I played against him when he could really smoke it,” said the 94-year-old Stevens from his home in California.

 “When Satch relieved against us [in Cleveland], he was just spotting the ball around. [It seemed like] he had lost 60 mph off of his fastball. He threw his breaking stuff and he had great control so you knew he was going to be around the plate all the time. He wasn’t going to overpower you like I had seen him in his earlier days,” he said.

Stevens wasted no time against his old friend and promptly laced Paige’s offering into left field. “The ballgame in Cleveland was not a big deal for me because I was just hitting off of Satch. I singled into left field, between [Ken] Keltner and [Lou] Boudreau. … I always had pretty good luck off of him.” Stevens dates his success against Paige back to a meeting they had a few years prior, just as he returned from his service in World War II. “One of the longest home runs I had ever hit in my life was off of Paige. I had just gotten out of close to four years in the service, and we played an exhibition game in Long Beach and Satch pitched against our ballclub. The ball I hit, I guess it must have been well over 400 feet. I wondered where all that power came from when I was rounding the bases.”

Stevens’ teammate Ned Garver was a 22-year-old rookie relief pitcher. Only in the major leagues for two months, he found himself right in the middle of this historical event. “There was never a time when there wasn’t a bunch of hoopla around Satchel because he was such a colorful guy,” said the 85-year-old Garver from his home in Ohio. Garver pitched two and one-thirds innings of scoreless relief for the save that day, but his clearest memories from that game started before a pitch was even thrown.

“We had a man on our team who hit cleanup and played left field [Whitey Platt]. He was from Florida. He told the manager he wasn’t going to play,” Garver recalled. “Zack Taylor was our manager, and you know back in those days, you didn’t tell somebody you weren’t going to play. You didn’t get away with that kind of crap. [Taylor] said, ‘No, you’re gonnna play.’ So he put him in the lineup.”

Satchel Paige: The One and Only

Written by: Dick Burnon, dburnon@aol.com

Paige (1906-1982) was an American baseball player whose pitching in several different Negro Leagues and in Major League Baseball made him a legend in his own lifetime. A right-handed pitcher, Paige colorful professional baseball playing career lasted from the mid-1920s until 1965. He appeared in the Major League All-Star Games in both 1952 and 1953 and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY, in 1971.

He played for a dozen Negro League teams; teams in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, and Mexico; and three Major League teams -- Cleveland Indians, St. Louis Browns (now the Baltimore Orioles), and the Kansas City Athletics (now the Oakland A’s). As best that can be determined, his overall record was 180 wins and 96 losses. Unfortunately, the Negro Leagues didn’t keep accurate records, so there’s no way to determine how many more games Paige had actually won. He once claimed that he won over 2,000 games and lost only 200 during his lengthy career.

“According to legend, Paige got the nickname ‘Satchel’ from Wilber Hines, a friend and next-door neighbor,” said Burnon, Head of Adult Programming and Public Relations at the Englewood Public Library. “The two would go down to the Louisville and Nashville Railroad station and carry bags for the passengers for money. Hines supposedly gave Paige the nickname after he was caught trying to steal one of the bags that he was carrying.”

On February 7, 1936, Joe DiMaggio was making his last stop as a minor leaguer before joining the New York Yankees, and he was going to face one of baseball’s best pitchers: Satchel Paige. DiMaggio ended up going 1-4 with a game-winning RBI in the

bottom of the 10th. A Yankee scout watching the game wired the big club that day a report which read: “DiMAGGIO EVERYTHING WE’D HOPED HE’D BE: HIT SATCH ONE FOR FOUR.” DiMaggio himself said he now could make it in the big leagues “because I hit off of Satch.”

Finally, on July, 1948, with his Cleveland Indians in a pennant race and in desperate need of pitching, Indians owner Bill Veeck brought Paige in to try out with Indians player/manager Lou Boudreau. On that same day, his 42nd birthday, Paige signed his first Major League contract for $40,000 for the three months remaining in the season, becoming the first Negro pitcher in the American league and the seventh Negro Big Leaguer overall. Two days later, he became the oldest man ever to debut in the Major Leagues, at the age of 42 years and two days. Paige ended the 1948 season with a 6-1 record with a 2.48 ERA, two shutouts, 43 strikeouts, 22 walks, and 61 base hits allowed in 72 2/3 innings.

Paige joined the St. Louis Browns in 1951. The following year, he finished with a 12-10 record for a team which lost 90 games. The team eventually became the Baltimore Orioles. He was in and out of baseball, pitching sporadically, over the next decade.

On May 31, 1981, a made-for-television movie, titled Don’t Look Back, starred Louis Gossett, Jr., as Paige. Paige was paid $10,000 for his story and technical advice.

During a power failure on June 8, 1982, Paige died of a heart attack at his home in Kansas City, a month before his 76th birthday. He is buried on Paige Island in the Forest

Hill Memorial Park Cemetery in Kansas City.

In the 1996 made-for-cable film Soul of the Game, in addition to Delroy Lindo as Paige, the film also starred Mykelti Williamson as Josh Gibson, Blair Underwood as Jackie Robinson, Edward Hermann as Branch Rickey, and Jerry Hardin as Commissioner Happy Chandler”

In 1999, he ranked Number 19 on The Sporting News’ list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and was nominated as a finalist for the Major League Baseball All-Century team.

Paige stated in the book Pitchin’ Man by Hal Lebovitz - - as well as numerous articles, that one of his greatest disappointments was, “I never pitched to Babe Ruth.” The Babe Ruth All-Stars did play exhibition games against Negro Leaguers, but Paige and Ruth never faced off against each other.

On July 28, 2006, a statue of Satchel Paige was unveiled in Cooper Park, Cooperstown, NY, commemorating the contributions of the Negro Leagues to baseball.

A Batter's Eye View

SPORTS COLLECTORS DIGEST FEBUARY 25, 2011 ISSUE

http://www.sportscollectorsdigest.com/article/bill_purdy_interview
By Rich Marazzi

It’s not unusual for guys my age to have a bucket list. One thing I’ve always wanted to do was to catch batting practice at Yankee Stadium – or any major league park for that matter. Since teams no longer have batting practice catchers, and my life is in fast forward, chances of me fulfilling my fantasy are slim-to-none.

I recently read an article about former St. Louis Browns bat boy and batting practice catcher Bill Purdy in Pop Flies, the official magazine of the St. Louis Browns Historical Society. Batting practice catcher? Before you could say Clint Courtney, I did my best Sherlock Holmes imitation and tracked him down. (Click on Photo to Enlarge)

Purdy, a retired high school principal and educator in St. Louis, grew up a serious Browns fan despite suffering through a dismal but colorful period in team history. A Knothole Gang member who often went to Browns’ games on weekends, he was one of the 18,369 fans in attendance at Sportsman’s Park on Aug. 19, 1951, when owner Bill Veeck employed Eddie Gaedel, the 3-foot-7-inch midget. It is perhaps baseball’s most notorious stunt that will certainly be resurrected in this 60th anniversary year.

“I was sitting on the third base side in the upper deck with a friend,” recalled Purdy. “Between games of a doubleheader against the Tigers, they wheeled a cake onto the field and out of the cake jumped Gaedel. The crowd was astounded. Frank Saucier, who was considered a rookie phenom at the time, was announced to be in the starting lineup, and I was excited about this. He was scheduled to lead off the bottom of the first and play right field. But when he came to bat, manager Zack Taylor pinch-hit Gaedel for Saucier.”

Tigers’ pitcher Bob Cain threw four “balls” while laughing through the burlesque. After Gaedel waddled down to first base wearing elf’s shoes and uniform No. 1/8, he was replaced by Jim Delsing, and Gaedel’s one at-bat big league career came to an abrupt end.

When the Browns last won a pennant (1944) Purdy was only 7 years old. The Cardinals, with marquee names like Stan Musial, Red Schoendienst and Marty Marion, owned the city. So how did he develop an affinity toward the Brownies?

“We used to play step ball,” he explained “We would use a tennis ball and throw it off the concrete steps. If you caught the ball, you stayed in the game. I used to pretend that I was George McQuinn, the former Browns first baseman.”

Born and raised in St. Louis, Purdy was a standout catcher from Little League through his days at Southwest High School. He hit like Johnny Bench but ran like Ernie Lombardi – maybe a little faster. He then played one year of baseball for Washington University in St. Louis before transferring to Southeast Missouri State College where the school did not have a baseball program.

Bat boy and bullpen catcher

Veeck, who purchased an 80 percent stake in the Browns in 1951, worked endlessly to promote his anemic franchise. After all, he had to compete with “Stan the Man’s” Cardinals who were tenants in the same ballpark.

In 1952, Veeck held a promotional essay contest in search of a bat boy for the St. Louis Browns. The winner was 14-year-old Bill Purdy. Not only was he selected to be the club’s bat boy, he won $500 and his parents were given a season pass. And in classic Veeckian style, any of the 2,500 students at Southwest High School could attend one game for free on May 17. Those who did attend saw the Browns rally for two runs in the bottom of the ninth to beat Mel Parnell and the Red Sox 2-1.

Purdy now had rock star status among his peers. Like the movie title that year starring Dan Dailey, Dizzy Dean and Joanne Dru, he was “The Pride of St. Louis” among his classmates. And thanks to an understanding school principal who was a baseball fan, he was able to get out of school for the few day games that were played.

The year 1952 was an unforgettable one for the 14-year-old bat boy and batting practice catcher. It was the beginning of the Eisenhower years, Kay Starr sang “Wheel of Fortune” and Topps printed its Cadillac 407-card set.

“My first year I was a bat boy and batting practice catcher,” said Purdy. “In ’53, the final season for the Browns in St. Louis, I was exclusively a batting practice and bullpen catcher.

“I assume the regular catchers, Les Moss and Clint Courtney, didn’t want to do it. Catching was a tough job and the St. Louis heat can take a lot out of you. Coaches Bob Scheffing and Bill Norman were very good to me. I remember Eddie Olsen, who played hockey for the St. Louis Flyers minor league team, often threw batting practice. In the bullpen, I warmed-up legends like Satchel Paige, Virgil Trucks, Harry “The Cat” Brecheen, Don Larsen, Bob Turley, Ned Garver and Tommy Byrne. I had no problem catching them.”

Veeck had a penchant for signing former Cardinals. Brecheen, who spent most of his prominent 133-92 career with the Redbirds, beat the Red Sox three times in the 1946 World Series. He pitched the final season of his career for the Browns. “The Cat” made 16 starts and came out of the bullpen 10 times, going 5-13. And would you believe his favorite bullpen catcher was the young Purdy?

“For whatever reason, one day I warmed up Harry before a game and he won,” Purdy said. “After that he wouldn’t allow any one else to warm him up.”

Purdy was especially close to Paige, the ageless Hall of Fame right-hander who spent most of his career in the Negro leagues.

“He lived in the Adams Hotel at the corner of Pendleton and Olive Streets,” Purdy said.“It was a segregated hotel about two blocks from my father’s restaurant, The Rex Café. My father would pick us up after a road trip and Satchel would often dine there. This was a time when many restaurants and hotels were segregated. My dad’s place was opened 24/7 to everyone, and celebrities such as President Harry Truman, Jimmy Durante, Jane Wyman, Kirk Douglas, wrestler “Gorgeous George,” Harry Caray and others ate there. Part of the movie The Glass Menagerie was filmed outside the restaurant.”

Purdy’s friendship with Paige grew from all this. Their close relationship would impact Purdy’s life.

Read the rest of this story at: http://www.sportscollectorsdigest.com/article/bill_purdy_interview

On this day, February 2, 1954 - Satchel Paige

This day, February 2.

Soon after the St. Louis Browns became the Baltimore Orioles, the franchise released Satchel Paige on this day in 1954.  Paige had a 3.28 ERA over the previous two seasons with the Browns and was coming off two All-Star appearances, but the legendary Negro Leagues star was 47 years old (though Paige's age was always in some dispute). 

Paige pitched minor league ball in the Phillies' system from 1956-58, started five games for Portland of the PCL in 1961 and then, incredibly, returned to the majors in 1965 to start one game for the Kansas City A's. 

At age 54, Paige pitched three scoreless innings against Boston, holding the Red Sox to one hit.

Satchel Paige allowed a grand slam or two.

Jun 11, 1952 - At Fenway Park‚ Bosox catcher Sammy White clouts a 9th inning grand slam with one out to defeat the Brown's Satchel Paige‚ 11-9.

Paige (5-2) takes a 9-5 lead into the 9th. White completes his home run trot by rounding 3B and crawling from half way home and kissing the plate.

Another rookie provides entertainment to start the inning as Piersall‚ leading off‚ announces to Paige that he is going to bunt. He does just that and beats Paige to 1B‚ where upon he starts mirroring Satchel's moves and yelling "oink‚ oink‚ oink." Evers beats out an infield hit and Piersall continues his antics at 2B.

A now distracted and annoyed Paige walks Kell‚ and one out later‚ forces in a run by walking Goodman. A single by Lepcio sets up White's slam. After the game‚ Browns Clint Courtney opines‚ 'I believe that man is plumb crazy. Yeah‚ he's nuts altogether. I never saw a man do those things. Anywhere."

A Look at The Life of Former Brownie, Satchel Paige

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