May 3, 2024 • 10 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, Bob Kendrick, President of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, tells the story of a man who became bigger than the game he played—and only thew fastballs...the Midnight Creeper, the Bat Dodger, and the Jump Ball...the list goes on. The astounding thing, though, is that he did this every day for five decades with no relief pitcher.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
And we return to our American stories. Up next, a
story from Bob Kendrick. He's the president of the Negro
League's Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri. Today, Bob shares
with us the story of a player many experts believe,
at least experts in the world of baseball, was the
greatest of all time. And we're talking Satral Page. Take
(00:33):
it away, Bob.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
I think the work that we've done over the last
thirty plus years, people now come to the Negro League's
Baseball Museum expecting to meet some pretty good baseball players,
and of course you're going to lead not being disappointed.
You're going to meet some of the greatest athletes to
ever put on a baseball uniform. And by the time
(01:00):
our guests walk away from this experience, I think they
truly walk away with a much deeper, richer appreciation for
just how great this country really is because the story
of the Negro Leagues could have only happened in America. Yes,
it is angered against the ugliness of American segregation, a
(01:21):
horrible chapter in this country's history, But out of segregation
rose this wonderful story of triumph and conquest, and it's
all based on one small, simple principle. You won't let
me play with you in the major leagues, Okay, I'll
create my own league. And they never believed that they
(01:46):
were inferior because they were playing in the Negro leagues,
or that the white athlete was superior because they were
playing in.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
The major leagues. But everybody else did.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
And so they knew how good they were, and they
knew how good their league was.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
And you know what, the major leaguers knew how good
they were.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Yeah, because they had competed with and against each other
in countless exhibition games. And when we went to those
Spanish speaking countries, there was no separation.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
They were all playing.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Together, which is one of the reasons why I think
Ted Williams, upon his own induction into the National Baseball
Hall of Fame in nineteen sixty six, stood there and
boldly used his platform to advocate for the induction of
Negro league stars into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
(02:38):
He would go on to say that he hoped someday
the likes of Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson would be
inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame as symbols
of those great black stars who had never been given
an opportunity. That was nineteen sixty six. Five years later,
Satchel Paige becomes the first from the Negro leagues to
(02:58):
be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, or
I should say the first for his Negro league's career.
He joins the Cleveland Indians in nineteen forty eight as
a supposedly forty two year old rookie. Only God knows
how old he really was. Cleveland would win the World Series.
(03:22):
My Cleveland fans get tired of hearing me say this,
but it was the last time that Cleveland won the
World Series was nineteen forty eight with Satchel Paige and
Larry Doby. Many thought Sachel should have been named Rookie
of the Year. He goes six and one with a
two point four era his rookie season at age forty two,
which means he was likely closer to fifty two. He
(03:45):
never told his real age, and quite frankly, I'm not
convinced that Sachel knew his real age. And that's not
fun Fett because there were a lot of folks, particularly
black folks born in the Deep South, who didn't know
how old they were. Now Baseball says that Satchel was
born July seventh, nineteen oh six, which I absolutely do
not believe. The man that died here in nineteen eighty
(04:07):
two had likely seen seventy six long time ago. Satchel,
I believe, was born sometime in the early to mid
eighteen nineties in Mobile, Alabama, And like virtually everyone of
that era, you're not born in a hospital. You're born
at home to a midwife, and that birth record was
typically kept in the back page of the family Bible. Now,
(04:28):
according to Satchel, the goat ate that page out the Bible,
so he didn't know. But as Satchel would whimsically pose
the question, how old would you be if you didn't
know how old you are? Or that age is simply
mind over matter. If you don't mind, it don't matter.
And that is how he led his life. Now in
(04:50):
his prime, they clocked his fastball at one hundred and
five miles per hour. But what really made Satchel so
specially Now I can tell you right now one oh
five dog on special. But what really made Sachel so
special was one oh five with pinpoint control. He could
put it exactly where he wanted to put it. And
(05:11):
I am not talking about just throwing strikes.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Uh uh.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
The catcher sat the target, he hit the target. He
didn't miss. You see, he didn't warm up in the
bullpen like most pitchers do. Throwing to the catcher across
home plate, you know what, Satchel would use a stick
of foil chewing gum rapper, hon the scar's truth. The
catcher would sit the chewing gum wrapper on top of
(05:34):
home plate. And wherever the catcher moved the chewing gum rapper,
Sachel right over the top of that chewing gum rapper.
He was absolutely uncanny. I tell my guests all the time,
there will never ever ever be another Leroy Satchel Page,
(05:56):
not someone who combines the longevity. By his estimation, he
pitched it over twenty six hundred games, recorded some fifty
five no hitters, and only god knows how many strikeouts,
and the charisma he could sell it. Yeah, he could
sell it, but he could also back it up. And
(06:16):
so Sachel had names for his pitches. So he didn't
have fastball, curveball, change of know who not Satchel. Sachel
had what he called his midnight creeper. He had the
two humper, he had the bat Dodger, he had the
hesitation pitch, he had the long time, the short time,
the jump ball, the trouble ball, the radio ball, the
(06:37):
wobbly ball, the dipsy dow. And he also had a
pitch that he called his b ball. You know why
he called it the bee ball because Sachel says, it
bees where I wanted to be when I wanted to
be there. And so I tell all my young major
league pitchers where they come into the museum, they better
develop themselves a B ball. And so he was so amazing.
(07:05):
One of my favorite stories relative to Satchel. They were
playing in the Denver post Tournament, Satchel page All Stars
versus an all white semi pro team from the Coors
Brewing Company, and Buck O'Neill is playing first base for
Sachel and it's all Stars, and he says, the first
kid from the Coors team gets into the battles box,
(07:27):
he digs in. Satchel throws him a fastball kids swung
as hard as he could, topped it, drippled it down
a third base line. It stays fair. He beats it
out and gets it infield.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
Hit well. Buck says about that time, one of the.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Kids from the cours dugout steps out on top of
the dugout steps and he yells out, less beat him.
He ain't nothing but an overrated darkie Well Satchel's nickname,
and he had a nickname for everybody. His nickname, famously
for Buck O'Neill, was Nancy. Now that's a whole nother story.
(08:05):
We ain't got time to tell that story. But anyway,
Sachel looks over at first base. He says, Nancy, did
you hear that? Buck said, yes, Sachel, I heard him.
He said, Nancy, bring him in. So Buck is at
first base. He turns and he motions for the outfield
to take a couple of steps in. Sachel says, non, Nancy,
(08:28):
bring him all the way in honest to God's truth.
There were seven guys kneeling around the mouth, Sachel Page,
and the catcher, and Sachel strikes out the side on
nine straight pitches. He looks into the coolers dugout and says,
overrated dark you hey. And of course the kid that
(08:50):
said this, he was embarrassed, and all the guys came
out to apologize to Sachel and his teammates. But Buck
O'Neill swore to the day he died, if he had
one game to win and any choice of any picture
from any era, it would be the legendary Leroy Satchel Page.
He said, you might meet him when he was out
there messing around, but when he was locked and loaded,
(09:12):
forget about it. But as Sachel would say, there were
a lot of satul Pages that played in this league
known as the Negro Leagues. And it is so very
fitting that we now have a place where their contributions
not only to our sport are being remembered, but their
(09:32):
contributions to our society. And again it is at a
time when there's only a handful of these legendary athletes
still with us. They're like World War two vents. Many
of them were World War two vents. So what stood
at risk was that this story was going to die
when that last Negro Leagua left the face of this earth.
(09:54):
We cannot allow that to happen. I tell my guests
all the time, the Negro League's Baseball Museum doesn't need
to survive.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
It has to survive.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
And great job as always by Monte Montgomery on the
production A special thanks also to Bob Kendrick, president of
the Negro League's Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri. Out
of segregation, Bob said, rose triumph. And indeed the African
American rebuttal to the Major League Baseball's refusal to let
(10:28):
African Americans play was start our own league. And nobody
more perfectly represented that league and the talents than Leroy
Satchel Page twenty six hundred wins, one hundred and five
mile an hour fastball, The Story of Leroy Satchel, Page
on Our American Story
And we return to our American stories. Up next, a
story from Bob Kendrick. He's the president of the Negro
League's Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri. Today, Bob shares
with us the story of a player many experts believe,
at least experts in the world of baseball, was the
greatest of all time. And we're talking Satral Page. Take
(00:33):
it away, Bob.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
I think the work that we've done over the last
thirty plus years, people now come to the Negro League's
Baseball Museum expecting to meet some pretty good baseball players,
and of course you're going to lead not being disappointed.
You're going to meet some of the greatest athletes to
ever put on a baseball uniform. And by the time
(01:00):
our guests walk away from this experience, I think they
truly walk away with a much deeper, richer appreciation for
just how great this country really is because the story
of the Negro Leagues could have only happened in America. Yes,
it is angered against the ugliness of American segregation, a
(01:21):
horrible chapter in this country's history, But out of segregation
rose this wonderful story of triumph and conquest, and it's
all based on one small, simple principle. You won't let
me play with you in the major leagues, Okay, I'll
create my own league. And they never believed that they
(01:46):
were inferior because they were playing in the Negro leagues,
or that the white athlete was superior because they were
playing in.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
The major leagues. But everybody else did.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
And so they knew how good they were, and they
knew how good their league was.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
And you know what, the major leaguers knew how good
they were.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Yeah, because they had competed with and against each other
in countless exhibition games. And when we went to those
Spanish speaking countries, there was no separation.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
They were all playing.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Together, which is one of the reasons why I think
Ted Williams, upon his own induction into the National Baseball
Hall of Fame in nineteen sixty six, stood there and
boldly used his platform to advocate for the induction of
Negro league stars into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
(02:38):
He would go on to say that he hoped someday
the likes of Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson would be
inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame as symbols
of those great black stars who had never been given
an opportunity. That was nineteen sixty six. Five years later,
Satchel Paige becomes the first from the Negro leagues to
(02:58):
be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, or
I should say the first for his Negro league's career.
He joins the Cleveland Indians in nineteen forty eight as
a supposedly forty two year old rookie. Only God knows
how old he really was. Cleveland would win the World Series.
(03:22):
My Cleveland fans get tired of hearing me say this,
but it was the last time that Cleveland won the
World Series was nineteen forty eight with Satchel Paige and
Larry Doby. Many thought Sachel should have been named Rookie
of the Year. He goes six and one with a
two point four era his rookie season at age forty two,
which means he was likely closer to fifty two. He
(03:45):
never told his real age, and quite frankly, I'm not
convinced that Sachel knew his real age. And that's not
fun Fett because there were a lot of folks, particularly
black folks born in the Deep South, who didn't know
how old they were. Now Baseball says that Satchel was
born July seventh, nineteen oh six, which I absolutely do
not believe. The man that died here in nineteen eighty
(04:07):
two had likely seen seventy six long time ago. Satchel,
I believe, was born sometime in the early to mid
eighteen nineties in Mobile, Alabama, And like virtually everyone of
that era, you're not born in a hospital. You're born
at home to a midwife, and that birth record was
typically kept in the back page of the family Bible. Now,
(04:28):
according to Satchel, the goat ate that page out the Bible,
so he didn't know. But as Satchel would whimsically pose
the question, how old would you be if you didn't
know how old you are? Or that age is simply
mind over matter. If you don't mind, it don't matter.
And that is how he led his life. Now in
(04:50):
his prime, they clocked his fastball at one hundred and
five miles per hour. But what really made Satchel so
specially Now I can tell you right now one oh
five dog on special. But what really made Sachel so
special was one oh five with pinpoint control. He could
put it exactly where he wanted to put it. And
(05:11):
I am not talking about just throwing strikes.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Uh uh.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
The catcher sat the target, he hit the target. He
didn't miss. You see, he didn't warm up in the
bullpen like most pitchers do. Throwing to the catcher across
home plate, you know what, Satchel would use a stick
of foil chewing gum rapper, hon the scar's truth. The
catcher would sit the chewing gum wrapper on top of
(05:34):
home plate. And wherever the catcher moved the chewing gum rapper,
Sachel right over the top of that chewing gum rapper.
He was absolutely uncanny. I tell my guests all the time,
there will never ever ever be another Leroy Satchel Page,
(05:56):
not someone who combines the longevity. By his estimation, he
pitched it over twenty six hundred games, recorded some fifty
five no hitters, and only god knows how many strikeouts,
and the charisma he could sell it. Yeah, he could
sell it, but he could also back it up. And
(06:16):
so Sachel had names for his pitches. So he didn't
have fastball, curveball, change of know who not Satchel. Sachel
had what he called his midnight creeper. He had the
two humper, he had the bat Dodger, he had the
hesitation pitch, he had the long time, the short time,
the jump ball, the trouble ball, the radio ball, the
(06:37):
wobbly ball, the dipsy dow. And he also had a
pitch that he called his b ball. You know why
he called it the bee ball because Sachel says, it
bees where I wanted to be when I wanted to
be there. And so I tell all my young major
league pitchers where they come into the museum, they better
develop themselves a B ball. And so he was so amazing.
(07:05):
One of my favorite stories relative to Satchel. They were
playing in the Denver post Tournament, Satchel page All Stars
versus an all white semi pro team from the Coors
Brewing Company, and Buck O'Neill is playing first base for
Sachel and it's all Stars, and he says, the first
kid from the Coors team gets into the battles box,
(07:27):
he digs in. Satchel throws him a fastball kids swung
as hard as he could, topped it, drippled it down
a third base line. It stays fair. He beats it
out and gets it infield.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
Hit well. Buck says about that time, one of the.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Kids from the cours dugout steps out on top of
the dugout steps and he yells out, less beat him.
He ain't nothing but an overrated darkie Well Satchel's nickname,
and he had a nickname for everybody. His nickname, famously
for Buck O'Neill, was Nancy. Now that's a whole nother story.
(08:05):
We ain't got time to tell that story. But anyway,
Sachel looks over at first base. He says, Nancy, did
you hear that? Buck said, yes, Sachel, I heard him.
He said, Nancy, bring him in. So Buck is at
first base. He turns and he motions for the outfield
to take a couple of steps in. Sachel says, non, Nancy,
(08:28):
bring him all the way in honest to God's truth.
There were seven guys kneeling around the mouth, Sachel Page,
and the catcher, and Sachel strikes out the side on
nine straight pitches. He looks into the coolers dugout and says,
overrated dark you hey. And of course the kid that
(08:50):
said this, he was embarrassed, and all the guys came
out to apologize to Sachel and his teammates. But Buck
O'Neill swore to the day he died, if he had
one game to win and any choice of any picture
from any era, it would be the legendary Leroy Satchel Page.
He said, you might meet him when he was out
there messing around, but when he was locked and loaded,
(09:12):
forget about it. But as Sachel would say, there were
a lot of satul Pages that played in this league
known as the Negro Leagues. And it is so very
fitting that we now have a place where their contributions
not only to our sport are being remembered, but their
(09:32):
contributions to our society. And again it is at a
time when there's only a handful of these legendary athletes
still with us. They're like World War two vents. Many
of them were World War two vents. So what stood
at risk was that this story was going to die
when that last Negro Leagua left the face of this earth.
(09:54):
We cannot allow that to happen. I tell my guests
all the time, the Negro League's Baseball Museum doesn't need
to survive.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
It has to survive.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
And great job as always by Monte Montgomery on the
production A special thanks also to Bob Kendrick, president of
the Negro League's Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri. Out
of segregation, Bob said, rose triumph. And indeed the African
American rebuttal to the Major League Baseball's refusal to let
(10:28):
African Americans play was start our own league. And nobody
more perfectly represented that league and the talents than Leroy
Satchel Page twenty six hundred wins, one hundred and five
mile an hour fastball, The Story of Leroy Satchel, Page
on Our American Story
Host
Lee Habeeb
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