July 7th is probably Satchel Paige's centenary

[Guest guest]

....should anyone be interested, there's an " Echoes of a Century " program

featuring Paige-related material at

http://www.radio4all.net/proginfo.php?id=17703 ...

 

Satchel Paige's age eludes us, yet his wisdom is timeless

Posted 7/5/2006 8:09 PM ET

 

 

Satchel Paige became the first black player to pitch in the World

Series and the first Negro League player inducted into the Baseball

Hall of Fame.

 

 

 

 

By Dan Gutman

" Age is a question of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't

matter. " That's according to baseball immortal Leroy " Satchel " Paige,

born 100 years ago on July 7, 1906. Paige (legend has it) won 2,100

games, 60 in one season, and 55 without giving up a hit. And that was

before he was allowed in the majors as a 42-year-old " rookie. "

" How old would you be if you didn't know how old you are? " Paige once

remarked. Of course, old Satch was known to have fudged the facts a

smidge when it came to longevity. He enjoyed shaving off or adding a

year or two to his biography, depending upon his mood and how much

publicity it might attract. Satchel's actual birthday is one of the

great mysteries of sport.

 

He told Cleveland Indians owner Bill Veeck it was Sept. 18. Wilber

Hines, a childhood friend, claimed it was Sept. 12, 1905. In 1980, two

years before Satch died, Cool Papa Bell reported that " Satchel is two

years older than I am, and I'm 101. " (Bell was 77 at the time.)

 

But Satch's mother, Lula, said that he was born in 1904, and that she

wrote the birthdates of her 13 children down in the family Bible. The

only problem was that her father was reading it under a chinaberry tree

one day when the wind blew it out of his hands. The family goat ate it,

and the date was lost forever. But the goat, according to Satch, lived

to be exactly 27.

 

July 7 seems to be Paige's most likely birth date. Teammate Ted " Double

Duty " Radcliffe (who died last August) insisted Satch was born on July

7, 1900, two years to the date before he was.

 

In Satch's autobiography, Maybe I'll Pitch Forever, he wrote, " I got to

Cleveland on July 7, 1948. That was my 42nd birthday. " And in 1954 the

Mobile, Ala., Health Department located a birth certificate for a

" Leroy Page " dated July 7, 1906. " They've been carrying on so long

about my age, nobody will believe what I say, " Satch said.

 

We'll never know for sure when Satchel Paige was born. But when he

threw his first pitch for the Cleveland Indians in 1948 (one year after

Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier), Satch was an old man by

baseball standards. Yet he still went 6-1 to help the Indians win the

American League pennant. Paige became the first black player to pitch

in the World Series and the first Negro League player inducted into the

Baseball Hall of Fame (his plaque says he was 42 in 1948). Satch went

on to pitch four more seasons.

 

Then, after being out of the big leagues for a dozen years, the Kansas

City Athletics brought him back for one final appearance on Sept. 25,

1965. Satch was pushing 60, but he pitched three shutout innings that

day. It had been nearly 40 years from his first professional game until

his last.

 

" Don't look back, " Satch said. " Something might be catching up with

you. " Regardless of age, Satchel Paige was wise beyond his years. " We

don't stop playing because we get old, " Satch used to say. " We get old

because we stop playing. "

 

I say July 7 is as good a date as any to celebrate. Happy 100th, Satch.

Even if it's not your birthday.

 

 

--

King Daevid MacKenzie, WLSU-FM 88.9 La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA

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