Leroy Robert Paige was born in Mobile, Ala.,on July 7th(1900-1908) the son of John and Lula Page. The family name became ”Paige,” he remembered, because ”my folks later stuck in the ‘i’ to make themselves sound more hightoned.”
He teased people about the date of his birth, saying that the certificate had been placed between the pages of a Bible that was eaten by the family’s goat. But later he did not argue with evidence that he had been born on July 7, 1906.
He took up pitching during four years spent at the Alabama Reform School for Boys, and became exceptional. In 1924, he presented himself to Candy Jim Taylor, the manager of the Mobile Tigers, a black semiprofessional team, and fired 10 fastballs past the manager in an audition. He had a job, and soon a career.
For the next two decades, he traveled around the hemisphere wit
h black teams, pitching across the seasons and the borders of countries. He also pitched in exhibition games against white major league stars. Once he outpitched Dizzy Dean, 1-0. Another time, he struck out Rogers Hornsby five times in one game. Joe DiMaggio called him ”the best I’ve ever faced, and the fastest.
A lean but imposing figure on the mound, 6 feet 3 1/2 inches tall and 180 pounds, with thin legs and a mean fastball, numerous curveballs and pinpoint control. And one year after Jackie Robinson broke the color line, Mr. Veeck signed him as a drawing card and pitcher on a Cleveland team headed for the championship. The date was July 7, 1948.
Many baseball people derided the signing as a box-office gimmick, since the rookie was past 40 and probably past his prime. But Lou Boudreau, the Indians’ manager, introduced his new pitcher carefully, using him six times in relief before starting him in a game. In his first start, he defeated the Washington Senators, 5-3, before 72,434 fans in Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium. Then he pitched two shutouts against the Chicago White Sox, and by then had pitched before combined crowds of 201,829 in three starts.
His record after less than three months showed six victories and one loss, and he made one brief appearance in the World Series that October against the Boston Braves. But after one more season with Cleveland, he was released after Mr. Veeck sold his controlling interest. However, two years later, Mr. Veeck bought the St. Louis Browns and promptly signed his former rookie, who now was at least 45 years old. But, in his most flamboyant defiance to age, Mr. Paige won 12 games in 1952 and was selected for the league’s All-Star team.
After the 1953 season, he was released once more, but once more refused to quit baseball. He pitched in the minor leagues, then took the barnstorming route again and even appeared with the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team as a guest celebrity. He played the part of a cavalry sergeant in a 1958 motion picture, ”The Wonderful Country.”
Charles O. Finley, drew him back to the big leagues briefly in 1965 with the Kansas City A’s. The theme was revival, and Mr. Paige was provided with a rocking chair in the bullpen and a nurse who massaged his right arm with liniment. He pretended that the compound was based on a secret formula and, sparred with persons who asked whether he perhaps relied on ”doctored” pitches. ”I never threw an illegal pitch,” he replied. ”The trouble is, once in a while I toss one that ain’t never been seen by this generation.”
”They said I was the greatest pitcher they ever saw,” he remarked recently, reflecting on the segregation in sports that had cost him a full career in the big leagues. ”I couldn’t understand why they couldn’t give me no justice.”
SOURCE New York Times
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