According to baseballreference.com, Satchel Paige was born on July 7, 1906, in Mobile – 119 years ago today.
However, pick any year from 1901 and 1909, and there’s a news source that, at some point, has listed it as Paige’s birth year. But if 1906 is the correct year, then Paige was two days past his 42nd birthday when he pitched in the newly integrated Major Leagues for the first time on July 9, 1948.
At that point, Paige was playing it coy about his age, telling reporters that a goat had eaten either his birth certificate or the family Bible. It led to one of his many pearls of wisdom: “How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you were?”
Paige’s 1948 autobiography, “Pitchin’ Man,” has a chapter titled “About My Age,” which starts: “Now about my age. That’s usually a subject for women, but I guess we got to go into it because the way everybody is fussing, it seems it’s as important as the secret of the atomic bomb.” Paige then cites a variety of people – his mother, ex-wife, a judge who fined him for a speeding ticket, the guys he played bingo with – who all had different ages for him, without confirming any as correct.
Paige’s ability to pitch past retirement age for almost any other player raised curiosity about the secret to his longevity, and an interview on that subject led the pitcher to develop his famous “master maxims,” usually referred to as “Six Rules for Staying Young” or “Six Rules for a Happy Life.” Paige had the rules printed on his business card.
The rules said:
1. Avoid fried meats, which angry up the blood.
2. If your stomach disputes you, lie down and pacify it with cool thoughts.
3. Keep the juices flowing by jangling around gently as you move.
4. Go very light on the vices such as carrying on in society. The social ramble ain’t restful.
5. Avoid running at all times.
6. Don’t look back; something might be gaining on you.
“Don’t look back; something might be gaining on you” put Paige in “Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations.” His exploits on the diamond landed him in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971, the first player to be enshrined for his Negro Leagues performance.
Paige arrived in Cleveland as a famous baseball player, even though the recognized Major Leagues had kept the doors closed to him for the prime seasons of his career. Paige pitched as a pro in five decades and did so for dozens of teams from Alaska to South America. That included the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro National League from 1927 through 1930.
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His 6-1 record down the stretch as the first Black pitcher in the American League helped Cleveland win the 1948 pennant. He had four more MLB seasons ahead of him, including two as an All-Star, plus three full minor-league campaigns remaining. Paige was pitching regularly for the Miami Marlins of the Triple-A International League at 52, going 10-10 with a 2.95 earned-run average in 1958.
Paige also burnished his reputation in competition beyond the Negro Leagues during the segregated era. In the offseason in Paige’s heyday, top baseball players sometimes would supplement their incomes with barnstorming tours, traveling to places outside the 10 cities with American or National League teams. Paige headlined clubs of Negro Leaguers that opposed squads of American and National League players led first by Dizzy Dean and then by Bob Feller, pitchers who preceded Paige into the Hall of Fame.
Paige’s final big-league appearance was a publicity stunt dreamed up by Kansas City Athletics owner Charles O. Finley, who just two nights before Paige’s return to the Majors had held Bert Campaneris Appreciation Night, during which the Kansas City shortstop played one inning at each of the nine positions.
Paige started a game between two also-ran teams on Sept. 25, 1965. He pitched the first three innings against the Boston Red Sox, giving up one hit – a double to future Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski – and struck out one without walking a batter. Paige threw 28 pitches – a number less than half his age.
Paige died on June 8, 1982.
On June 24, Mobile opened its Hall of Fame Walk on Water Street, featuring a statue of Paige along with the four other members of the Baseball Hall of Fame born in the Port City – Hank Aaron, Willie McCovey, Ozzie Smith and Billy Williams – and Pro Football Hall of Fame member Robert Brazile.
Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.
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