Satchel Paige - Born 100 Years Ago Today

From BaseballLibrary.com

Satchel Paige 1906-1982
RHP 1948-49, 51-53, 65 Indians, Browns, Athletics

CAREER
IP 476
W-L 28-31
ERA 3.29

FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY
» May 1, 1926: Satchel Paige, 19 years old, makes his debut in the Negro Southern League, pitching Chattanooga to a 5–4 win over Birmingham.

» July 4, 1934: Satchel Paige pitches a 4–0 no-hitter against the Negro League Homestead Grays in Pittsburgh, with only a walk and an error spoiling a perfect game. Paige then comes in relief in game 2 and is tagged with the loss. In his next start, Satch will shut out the host Chicago American Giants 5–0 in 10 innings on July 8. In Paige's autobiography, he erroneously recalls that he threw the no-hitter in Pittsburgh, then drove to Chicago and beat the Giants on the same day, but researcher Dave Marasco corrected Satch's story.

» September 9, 1934: In one of the most memorable games in the Negro League history, Pittsburgh Crawfords' Satchel Paige duals the Philadelphia Stars' Slim Jones to a 1-1 stalemate, called after 9 innings due to darkness. Paige strikes out 12, and Jones, 9, before 30,000 at Yankee Stadium.

» May 31, 1942: Before 22,000 at Griffith Stadium, Satchel Paige pitches five innings to defeat the Dizzy Dean All-Stars, 8–1. Dean pitches just the first inning, giving up three hits and two runs. Private Cecil Travis plays 3B. The game a week earlier, in which Paige won 3–1 at Wrigley Field, drew 29,000. Judge Landis will prohibit a scheduled July 4th matchup because the first two games outdrew ML games.

» July 21, 1942: At Forbes Field, the Monarchs (Negro League) Satchel Paige performs one of his legendary feats. Years earlier, Paige told Josh Gibson that one day he would strike him out with the bases loaded. With a man on, two outs, and Gibson third up, Paige walks the next two Grays to bring Gibson up. Satchel tells the crowd what is going to happen. "Three fastballs, Josh," Paige tells him, then proceeds to strike him out.

» August 2, 1942: At Yankee Stadium, Satchel Paige and Hilton Smith combine to pitch a one-hit shutout over the New York Cubans (Negro League). The Monarchs win, 9–0. In the first game of the twinbill, the Philadelphia Stars conquer the Baltimore Elite Giants, 7–4. Henry Spearman's grand slam sparks the Philley attack.

» September 14, 1942: In the Negro League WS, Leon Day, pitching for the Homestead Grays, fans 12 in beating Satchel Paige and the Kansas City Monarchs 4-1 in Game 4. The Monarchs protest, contending that Day and 3 other players were picked up from other teams. Day's win is disallowed, and the Monarchs sweep the 4 games.

» July 7, 1948: The Indians stun the baseball world by signing Satchel Paige, fabulous veteran Negro League pitcher. The move is ridiculed by some as a Bill Veeck publicity stunt, and A.G. Spink in The Sporting News editorializes, "Veeck has gone too far in his quest for publicity. . . . To sign a hurler at Paige's age is to demean the standards of baseball in the big circuits." The 42-year-old Paige will answer the critics in tomorrow, getting a relief decision in a 8–6 win over New York in a DH sweep. He will finish at 6–1. Paige is the oldest player to debut in the majors, but not the first 40-year-old: Chuck Hostetler in 1944 was 40.

» July 13, 1948: Before 51,013 at Comiskey, Satchel Paige makes his 3rd appearance and 1st start and allows five hits in nine innings to beat the Sox, 5–0. Teammate Larry Doby has two hits and two stolen bases.

» July 25, 1948: In Boston, the other DiMaggio makes two spectacular catches against the Indians as well as homering off Satchel Paige. The Red Sox beat Cleveland, 3–0 for their 15th win in 16 games. Joe Dobson tops Steve Gromek to leave the Sox percentage points ahead of the 2nd place A's. Cleveland and New York are each one 1/2 games back. With the Braves in 1st place, it is the first time since 1916 that both Boston teams are at the top spot.

» August 3, 1948: Before 72,434 in Cleveland, ancient Satchel Paige makes his first start pitching seven innings against the Senators, before being relieved by Eddie Klieman. Paige picks up the win, 5–3, which moves Cleveland (56-38) into a four-way tie for first.

» August 8, 1948: In Cleveland, 73,484 fans watch the Indians and Yankees square off for two games. Trailing in the opener, an ailing Lou Boudreau hits a bases loaded pinch single in the 7th to tie the game, and Satchel Paige wins it in relief, 8–6. Steve Gromek goes seven innings in the nitecap to give the Indians a 2–1 win over rookie Bob Porterfield, making his ML debut. The Indians and the A's are now tied for 1st (60-39), with the Yankees two games back and Red Sox in 4th place, two 1/2 out.

» August 20, 1948: The Indians draw record 78,382 for the largest crowd to attend a night game. The Indians go on to beat the Chicago White Sox, 1–0, at Memorial Stadium as Satchel Paige blanks the opposition on three hits for the 4th consecutive shutout by Cleveland hurlers. Bill Wight is the hard-luck loser. Besides Paige, Gene Bearden, Sam Zoldak, and Bob Lemon fired shutouts.

» February 9, 1951: The St. Louis Browns sign Satchel Paige, 45. He had been out of ML baseball since last pitching for the Indians in 1949.

» July 17, 1951: After pitching for Bill Veeck in Cleveland in 1948, Satchel Paige rejoins him with the St. Louis Browns.

» August 29, 1951: The Yankees pick on the lowly Browns for a 15–2 win at Sportsman's Park. Mickey Mantle has four RBIs including a three run homer in the 9th off Satchel Paige. Ned Garver (15-9) is the loser.

» September 9, 1951: The Indians use three 9th-inning bunts to edge the Browns, 4–3. Hegan leads off with a bunt that rolls foul, but then drives a single past the pulled-in 3B Jack Maguire. Two more bunts and a sac fly give Mike Garcia his 19th win. Reliever Satchel Paige takes the loss.

» May 26, 1952: In a Memorial Day doubleheader in St. Louis, 13,000 fans at Sportsman's Park cheer as the Browns sweep two from Detroit. Satchel Paige picks up a save in the opener and then wins his 4th game in the nitecap.

» June 30, 1952: Satchel Paige is named to the All-Star team.

» August 6, 1952: St. Louis Browns Satchel Paige, 46, beats Virgil "Fire" Trucks 1-0 in 12 innings.

» May 28, 1953: Bob Elliott drives in six runs—4 on a grand slam—to lead the Browns to a 7–5 win over the Indians. Satchel Paige picks up his 2nd save in two nights.

» December 23, 1953: Dodgers 2B Jim "Junior" Gilliam easily wins National League Rookie of the Year honors over Harvey Haddix and Ray Jablonski. Satchel Paige remains unclaimed on the American League waiver list.

» March 14, 1956: Satchel Paige signs with the Birmingham Black Barons (Negro League) at age 50 to play and manage.

» August 7, 1956: The largest crowd in minor league history (57,000) see Miami's 50-year-old Satchel Paige beat Columbus (IL) in the Orange Bowl.

» September 5, 1960: The first-place Pirates split with the Braves, winning 9–7 before losing, 7–1. The Bucs rout Spahn in the opener scoring seven runs in the 4th after the Braves had knocked out starter Bob Friend. Bob Buhl is the winner in the nitecap, scattering seven hits. Chuck Cottier has three doubles and three RBIs to back Buhl. Haddix is the loser and gives way to Diomedes Olivo, who makes his ML debut in relief. At age 41, or thereabouts, Olivo is the oldest rookie in ML history except for Satchel Paige. The IL MVP pitches two runless innings.

» August 24, 1961: Ageless Satchel Paige signs with Portland (PCL). In 25 innings for the Beavers, he will have a 2.88 ERA.

» September 25, 1965: Another Kansas City publicity stunt makes the great Satchel Paige baseball's oldest performer. At 59, Paige hurls the first three innings, garners one strikeout, and allows just one hit, to Carl Yastrzemski in his first ML appearance since 1953. The Red Sox jump on reliever Don Mossi for a 5–2 win.

» June 21, 1966: Satchel Paige makes his final pro pitching appearance, going the first two innings for Peninsula (Carolina L) against Greensboro. Satch gives up two runs. As noted by historian Bill Deane, Peninsula's regular catcher, Johnny Bench, took the night off.

» August 11, 1968: Satchel Paige, 62 years or so old, and needing 158 days on a ML payroll to qualify for a pension, is signed by the Braves. He will not pitch a regular-season game for Atlanta and will become a coach on September 30th and stay for another year.

» February 9, 1971: Former Negro Leagues P Satchel Paige is nominated for the Hall of Fame. On June 10th the Hall's new Special Committee on the Negro Leagues will formally select Paige for induction.

» August 9, 1971: The Indians score eight runs in the 5th inning to beat the Cubs 13–5 in the annual Hall of Fame game. Earlier, the Hall had inducted Satchel Paige and the seven others selected in January.