2013, , © 2012 Blackbaseball's Negro Baseball Leagues | webmatters. It seemed like a swan song to most everybody, but Paige, always eager to prove them wrong, saw his historic appearance as just the beginning. Many long years ago. But when it was time to play ball, Paige was all business. I was sixty-five when I went there. Satchel Paige was inducted into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971. Satchel Paige sits in a boat named 'Ole Satch I' given to him by his St. Louis Browns owner Bill Veeck in 1952. And so I guess all that got me up here to Cooperstown.”, Satchel Paige delivers his Hall of Fame induction speech on the steps of the Museum Library in 1971. Satchel, his siblings and his mother changed the spelling of their name from Page to Paige sometime in the late 1920s or early 1930s, reportedly to distance themselves from John Page. In 1971, the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s newly formed Committee on Negro Leagues named Paige as its first electee, opening the door for many talented but less heralded Negro League stars in Cooperstown in the years to come. In his Baseball Hall of Fame induction speech in 1966, Ted Williams made a strong plea for inclusion of Negro league stars in the Hall. After 22 years in the Negro Leagues, he was signed by the Cleveland Indians and was a 42-year-old (at least) rookie. After running the count to 3-0, Yastrzemski lifted a pitch the left center field wall for a double. The criticism was so harsh -- Jim Murray in Los Angeles was particularly fierce as was the rampaging Dick Young -- that the Hall decided on the fly to get rid of the display idea and let Satchel Paige into the actual Hall of Fame. Leroy Satchel page In Seventy-one He was voted in the Hall of Fame when I went to Cleveland 1948, he said. Satchel Paige was a famous African American baseball pitcher who helped break down racial barriers in professional sports. It was one last chance, or so maybe it seemed, to add another mythical story to the legend. But Ol’ Satch did not slow down after the Browns released him in early 1954. The Kansas City Star's recap of Satchel Paige's last major league start at age 59. Those were the concluding words of a brief, humorous, pointed and poised acceptance speech by Satchel Paige today as he formally entered base ball's Hall of Fame. Satchel Paige poses with his Baseball Hall of Fame plaque on his induction day, August 9, 1971, at Cooperstown, New York. So, I began to learn how to pitch by the hour, or by the week, or whatever you may call it. After the publication of Robert Peterson’s landmark book Only the Ball was White in 1970, the Hall of Fame found itself under renewed pressure to find a … Continue reading » Today, Paige's plaque sits alongside the other great major leaguers who grace the halls in Cooperstown. Paige was born the seventh child of twelve (including a set of twins) to John Page, a gardener, and Lula Coleman Page, a domestic worker, in the "South Bay" area of Mobile. Finley devised one last gimmick and called it “Satchel Paige Appreciation Night.” But this would not be a run-of-the-mill old timer’s celebration: No bobbleheads, truck rides or ceremonial first pitch. 04 google_ad_height = 280; The A’s were 40 games back and not even Finley’s antics – which included bringing a live mule into the press box – could bring in fans. Some of that mystery is based in the numbers. amzn_assoc_title = "Search Results from Amazon"; But then he recovered himself, adding, “I think I can still pitch and help this club.”, Satchel Paige relaxes in a special chair while playing with the Triple-A Miami Marlins. By the evening of Sept. 25, 1965, all of these legends from Satchel’s past in the Negro Leagues, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, the major leagues and everywhere in between had been well established and distributed. After the publication of Robert Peterson’s landmark book Only the Ball was White in 1970, the Hall of Fame found itself under renewed pressure to find a way to honor Negro league players who would have been in the … Today, Paige's plaque sits alongside the other great major leaguers who grace the halls in Cooperstown. Satchel Paige announced he wasn’t going through the back door of the Hall of Fame. [REF F508.1 P152sp] I was sixty-five when I went there. google_ad_slot = "4982589476"; So what a thrill it must have been for the 9,289 fans at Kansas City Municipal Stadium to see the 59-year-old Satchel Paige written down as the home team’s starting pitcher that evening. google_ad_slot = "9600932271"; A’s third baseman Ed Charles told reporters that Paige had only thrown 10 warm-up pitches, and threw a mid-80s fastball that danced around the hitters’ knees. Paige was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1971 as the first electee of the Committee on Negro Baseball Leagues. Veeck was unable to convince his White Sox staff to take him in, but the old pitcher found a home with another lively owner: The Athletics’ Charlie Finley. [REF F508.1 P152sh] Spivey, Donald. “You sit back and hear those Josh Gibson stories,’’ Jackson said. google_ad_height = 90; In 1966, Williams urged MLB to include Negro League players in the hall of fame during his induction speech. 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