No Man Got to Be Common

No Man Got to Be Common 

By Lawrence W. Reed 

Most Major League Baseball players retire from the sport before the age of 40. Do you know who holds the record as the oldest MLB player ever?

That would be the late, great Leroy “Satchel” Paige, a remarkable American who many baseball enthusiasts regard as the best pitcher in the history of the game. It was sixty years ago—on September 25, 1965—that he pitched three scoreless innings for the Kansas City Athletics. He was 59 years old.

So when he came out of a 12-year retirement to pitch in that 1965 game, Satchel’s reappearance was a national sensation. The Boston Red Sox scored no runs that night against him, proving he still had the magic that had made him a beloved national treasure.

The fans in Kansas City were amazed that a guy as old as 59 could still pitch like he was 20. But Satchel himself didn’t think it was a big deal. “Age is a question of mind over matter,” he once said. “If you don’t mind, it don’t matter.” For a long time, he dodged the question when asked about his age with remarks like this one: “I don’t know how old I am because a goat ate the Bible that had my birth certificate in it. The goat lived to be 27.”

If the Library of Congress is right, the most noteworthy event in American history ever to occur on July 7 is the birth of Satchel Paige in Mobile, Alabama, in 1906. His family being dirt-poor and fatherless when Satchel was a boy, he went to work early. He earned his nickname when he found a way to carry multiple bags (or “satchels”) at a train station.

A combination of truancy at school and petty theft sent him to five years in a reform school at the age of 12. But thanks to a fantastic coach there, Satchel honed his skills as a right-handed phenom. “I traded five years of freedom to learn how to pitch…They were not wasted years at all. It made a real man out of me.” He set his sights on becoming the best baseball player, young or old, that a man could be.

Ninety-nine years ago—in April 1926—he entered the Negro Leagues. There he played 19 seasons for ten different teams whose names harken back to the glory days of black baseball: the St. Louis Browns, the Chattanooga Black Lookouts, the Birmingham Black Barons, the Pittsburgh Crawfords, the Mobile Tigers, the Indianapolis Clowns, the Kansas City Monarchs, and the Tulsa Oilers. In 1948, a year after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier, Satchel began a six-season career in the Major Leagues and played for teams in Cleveland, St. Louis, and Kansas City.

At a lanky 6 ft-3 inches tall, Satchel commanded the mound. His inimitable pitching style featured colorful wind-ups and a left leg raised higher than some people thought humanly possible. A Paige pitch was often a lengthy but entertaining spectacle, and something that today’s time-sensitive pitch clock would not tolerate.

I think one of the reasons why I’ve always had a love for baseball is the richness of the men who play it. There’s something about the game that produces an endless roster of colorful and memorable personalities. It really is a sport that is as quintessentially American as apple pie or the 4th of July. I’ve written before about a few of the greats, like Roberto Clemente, Yogi Berra, and Stan Musial. Satchel knew that greatness springs not from blending in with the mob but standing out as the best. He told a reporter for a Nebraska newspaper in 1958, “There ain’t no man can avoid being born average. But there ain’t no man got to be common.”

Satchel Paige brings a smile to my face just thinking about him—because of his accomplishments, his American-ness, his talent, and his Yogi Berra-like sense of humor. Here’s a sample of the latter:

Referring to a friend and fellow Negro Leagues player James Thomas “Cool Papa” Bell, known as a super-fast runner, Satchel said,

One time he hit a line drive right past my ear. I turned around and saw the ball hit his ass sliding into second.

He was so fast! He could get out of bed, turn out the lights across the room and be back in bed under the covers before the room got dark.

At Satchel’s 1927 tryout session for the Birmingham Black Barons, the manager expressed astonishment at the speed of the young man’s pitches. “Do you throw this fast consistently?” he asked. Satchel replied, “No sir, I do it all the time.”

More examples of this great American’s humor:

Don’t look back. Something might be gaining on you.

I ain’t never thrown an illegal pitch. The trouble is, once in a while I tosses one that ain’t been seen by this generation.

My pitching philosophy is simple: Keep the ball away from the bat.

Baseball fans today know pitches by such names as curveball, fastball, changeup, splitter, sinker, and slurve. Satchel named his pitches himself: alley-oops, 4-day rider, trouble ball, midnight creeper, sidearmer, blooper, triple windup, bat dodger and the hilarious “be ball.” When asked how he came up with that last one, he replied, “It be where I want it to be.”

The legendary Satchel Paige was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971 for his contributions both to baseball and to the cause of equal rights before the law. He richly deserved the honor. He died in 1982 at age 75.

When the centennial of Satchel’s entrance into the Negro Leagues rolls around next spring, I hope many Americans will get re-acquainted with his legacy. Meantime, you can learn more about him and even watch some of his pitches by clicking on the links below.

Sources and additional information:

Satchel Sez: The Wit, Wisdom, and World of LeRoy “Satchel” Paige by David Sterry and Arielle Eckstut

Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend by Larry Tye

Maybe I’ll Pitch Forever by LeRoy (Satchel) Paige as told to David Lipman

Satchel Paige: The Legend of Baseball’s Greatest Pitcher by Paul Jones

Pitching Man: Satchel Paige Defying Time (video documentary)

Satchel Paige Pitching Footage (video with commentary by Vin Scully)

How Good Was Satchel Paige Actually? (video)

Satchel Paige co-starred in the 1959 film, “The Wonderful Country”: https://tinyurl.com/sz2ddayp

(Lawrence W. Reed is President Emeritus of the Foundation for Economic Education.)