Satchel Paige could be throwing his “bee ball” and “bat dodger” to current Major League hitters for players of “MLB The Show 23″ next month.

The Mobile native and seven other legends of the Negro Leagues are part of a new game mode “Storylines.”

“The best way I can explain it is it’s an amalgamation of a short documentary series combined with curated moments of gameplay,” said Ramone Russell, Sony product development communications and brand strategist. “Each of the eight players has a storyline, and the coolest part is learning about these players, then immediately being able to play as them in the game. That transition from the images and video to the on-field gameplay experience is powerful and immersive. The ambiance is carried through from the uniforms, to the crowd and everything in between.”

The Negro Leaguers joining Paige in the feature include Martin Dihigo, John Donaldson, Rube Foster, Buck O’Neil, Jackie Robinson, Hilton Smith and Hank Thompson.

The video game’s developers worked with Bob Kendrick, the president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, to select the players.

“The story of the Negro Leagues is not an African American story,” Kendrick said. “It is an all-American story. You see, it’s the kind of story that we as Americans have typically embraced because it’s a story about pride, passion, perseverance, determination, the refusal to accept the notion that you’re unfit to do anything.”

Sony announced the new feature on Monday. “MLB The Show 23″ will be released on March 28.

“The circumstances that dictated a need for a Negro League were sorrowful,” Kendrick said. “Segregation was a horrible chapter in this county’s history. But out of segregation rose this wonderful story of triumph and conquest, and that’s the story that should be celebrated.”

Paige became the first player whose primary playing career was spent in the Negro Leagues inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971. He’s one of the five members born in Mobile, along with Hank Aaron, Willie McCovey, Ozzie Smith and Billy Williams.

When Paige made his debut with the Cleveland Indians on July 9, 1948 – two days past his 42nd birthday — he was the first African American pitcher in the American League and considered the oldest rookie in Major League history. But by that time, he was in his third decade as a professional, having signed his first contract in 1926 with the Chattanooga White Sox.

Paige was still pitching in the minor leagues with the Peninsula Pilots in 1966, and he played for dozens of teams from Alaska to South America in between. He is most closely identified with the Pittsburgh Crawfords of the 1930s and the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro American League. Paige played for the Monarchs from 1940 until he joined Cleveland in 1948.

Paige became a household name even while excluded from the big leagues because of his race. But players on the white side of baseball knew what Paige could do. “The pre-war Paige was the best pitcher I ever saw,” Bob Feller said. Joe DiMaggio labeled Paige “the best I’ve ever faced, and the fastest.”

Major League Baseball’s decision in December 2020 to recognize certain circuits of the Negro Leagues as Major Leagues meant Paige actually became a Major League pitcher in 1927, his first season with the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro National League, and he appeared in 21 Major League seasons.

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.