Information Tech webpage assignment created by Jarrid Fernandez
Satchel PageFULL NAME: Leroy Robert Paige
BORN: July 7, 1906 Mobile, Alabama
DIED: June 8, 1982 Kansas City, Missouri
Satchel Paige is the oldest player
to play in the Majors at 59 in 1965 for Kansas City.It is estimated that Leroy "Satchel" Paige was born on July 7, 1906. The mere idea that his birthday is an estimate provides perfect evidence to the mystery that was Satchel Paige. In 1965, 59 years after Paige's supposed birthday, he took the mound for the last time, throwing three shut-out innings for the Kansas City Athletics.Joe DiMaggio called Satchel Paige "the best and fastest pitcher I've ever faced". His pitching was amazing and his showboating was legendary. His career highlights span five decades. Pronounced the greatest pitcher in the history of the Negro Leagues, Paige compiled such feats as 64 consecutive scoreless innings, a stretch of 21 straight wins, and a 31-4 record in 1933. For 22 years, Paige mauled the competition in front of sell-out crowds. Sure, he liked the attention, but to him, there was only one goal. That goal would be to pitch in the Major Leagues.
In 1948, Paige's dream came true. The Cleveland Indians were in need of extra pitching for the pennant race. Legendary Bill Veeck tested Paige's accuracy before offering him a big league contract. As the story is told, Veeck placed a cigarette on the ground to be used as a home plate. Paige took aim at his virtually non-existent target. He fired five fastballs, all but one sailing directly over the cigarette. Veeck was indeed pleased, and Paige helped the Indians win the pennant.In addition to Cleveland, Paige played for St. Louis and Kansas City. When his Major League career was completed, he compiled a modest 28-31 record with a 3.29 ERA. What made Paige so memorable was his longevity in the game. The main reason his age was so difficult to track was his seemingly endless success. He rarely answered questions about his age, and when he did, he replied with something like: "Age is a question of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter."
In 1971, Leroy "Satchel" Paige was given the ultimate honor, he was elected to join the very best in baseball history in the Hall of Fame.If more is better, then Satchel Paige was the best.He threw more pitches for more fans in more places for more seasons than anyone else did. Black or white. Then or now.He threw mostly strikes. He was charismatic. And like the pink, drum-banging bunny who came along later, he just kept going and going and going. Leroy "Satchel" Paige was the longtime Negro League star who eventually received his due in the majors. He reportedly got his nickname working as a baggage porter in Mobile, Ala., where he became a "satchel tree" by carrying several bags at once. "Satchel," the man, was literally ageless. (His birthdate, commonly reported as July 7, 1906, was never rock solidly confirmed).Indisputable, though, is this: Paige reached the major leagues at an age when most pitchers have long stopped stressing their rotator cuffs. Also inarguable: the 6-foot-3, 180-pound right-hander is remembered as much for his witticisms as his extraordinary pitching talent and longevity.He is perhaps best known for saying: "Don't look back. Something might be gaining on you." This gem was actually one of six "master maxims" which he had printed on his business card. Others sayings included: "Avoid fried meats, which angry up the blood" and "if your stomach disputes you, lie down and pacify it with cool thoughts."
He came to expect questions about his age. "Age is a question of mind over matter," he said. "If you don't mind, it doesn't matter."Bill Veeck, legendary promoter and owner of the Cleveland Indians, concurred. In 1948, he signed Paige on the pitcher's 42nd birthday. Critics howled at the hiring of the oldest "rookie" in the history of the majors. The Sporting News accused Veeck of a "publicity stunt" and of demeaning" baseball.Veeck responded: "If Satch were white, of course he would have been in the majors 25 years earlier and the question would not have been before the house.The issue went beyond Paige's age: He was the American League's first African-American pitcher. Although Jackie Robinson had broken the color barrier the year before, integration of baseball was still new.Paige answered critics in his own fashion. He went 6-1 with one save and a 2.48 ERA and the Indians won the pennant by one game.He also brought out the crowds. More than 200,000 came to see his first three starts, including a Cleveland record for a single game of 78,382.Packing stadiums was nothing new to Paige. He was the hottest gate attraction in the Negro Leagues. During his entire career he performed before crowds estimated at 10 million in the U.S., Caribbean, and Central America, according to The New York Times Book of Sports Legends.
With Paige pitching, there was almost always a great show. He was known to wave his outfielders in to sit behind the pitcher's mound while he struck out a batter. He advertised promises that he would strike out the first nine batters.Mostly, though, he pitched. Phe
nomenally. From his 1924 debut with the semipro Mobile Tigers to a sensational stint with the fabled Pittsburgh Crawfords to helping the Kansas City Monarchs win six pennants from 1939-48, his achievements were astounding. For example, he claimed to have started 29 games in one month for a white semipro team in North Dakota.Pitching for the Crawfords (off and on) from 1932-37, Paige, according to one source, went 23-7 in 1932, then won 31 of 35 decisions in 1933, including 21 straight wins and 62 consecutive scoreless innings. Paige himself claimed to have won 104 of 105 games in 1934.On off-days from the Crawfords, Paige sometimes freelanced. According to a 1953 Collier's magazine article, he wore his own solo uniform, with "Satchel" sewn across the front. His appearance, for a $500-$2000 fee, assured small-town teams a full house.Paige also played during the off-season in Mexico, South America or the Caribbean. In one memorable stint he pitched for Dominican Republic dictator Rafael Trujillo's team in a series where the outcome, it was rumored, would decide an election. Heavily armed spectators watched from the first-base line.Legend has it Paige arranged with police to escort him and his American teammates out of the country upon winning. It wasn't discussed what would have happened if they lost.
His barnstorming back home also had its share of thrills in exhibition games against white major leaguers. It was reported that Paige once struck out 22 of them in a game.Joe DiMaggio called him "the best I've ever faced, and the fastest."In 1934 and 1935, Paige opposed baseball's best pitcher, Dizzy Dean, in six exhibition games, winning four."My fastball looks like a change of pace alongside that pistol bullet old Satch shoots up to the plate," Dean said. "If Satch and I were pitching on the same team, we'd clinch the pennant by the fourth of July and go fishing until World Series time."Dean and other major league challengers, such as Bob Feller's All-Stars, were dazzled by Paige's bag of pitches, each complete with its own nickname: bee ball, jump ball, trouble ball, the two-hump blooper and Long Tom. His most famous delivery was the hesitation pitch, which he developed in the 1940s and threw after deliberately pausing as his left foot hit the ground.Paige was the sixth of 12 children born to John Paige, a gardener, and Lula Coleman, a domestic worker in Mobile. He went from being a satchel-toting boy, to a rock-throwing teenager. In reform school, where he was sent for truancy and shoplifting, the rock-thrower switched from rocks to baseballs.As the star of the Negro Leagues, he made more money than any other African-American player of his time, as much as $40,000 a year. He traveled the world and the country more times than he could count. For a while he even had a plane for his Satchel Paige All-Stars.
Finally, he was invited to play in the majors. It hurt him when Robinson was selected to be the first African-American to play this century, he said in his 1967 autobiography, "Maybe I'll Pitch Forever."But he didn't get bitter. Not as long as his arm still worked. After pitching two seasons for the Indians, he pitched three years for the St. Louis Browns as a spot starter and reliever, compiling a 12-10 record in
1952.On Sept. 25, 1965, he became the oldest to pitch in the major leagues. Ever the showman, the 59-year-old Paige sat in a rocking chair in the bullpen while a nurse rubbed liniment on his arm. Then he threw scoreless three innings for the Kansas City Athletics against the Boston Red Sox, allowing only one hit, a double by Carl Yastrzemski.For his major-league career, his record was 28-31 with a 3.29 ERA and 32 saves.Paige barnstormed virtually nonstop into his 60s. His final appearance in a major-league uniform came in 1969 when he was a coach for the Atlanta Braves.In 1971, Paige was the first of the Negro League stars to be elected into the Hall of Fame.He died of emphysema at 75 on June 8, 1982, in Kansas City. Paige's impact on baseball will last even longer than he did. He blazed a wide trail for generations of African-American players during every slow stroll out to the mound. He never ran. Never jangled.He was the ageless Satchel Paige.Leroy Robert Paige was born in Mobile, Alabama on July 7, 1906. (There is some controversy over the Satchel's actual birth date, with some historians placing it as early as 1899.) He was the sixth of twelve children born to John Paige and Lula Coleman. Not much is known of his early life, however it is known that he spent some time in reform school for truancy and shoplifting. He earned his nickname, Satchel when he worked as a baggage porter in Mobile, Alabama.
Satchel Paige was the most famous and best known of all the baseball players that played in the old Negro Leagues during the Jim Crow years. Satchel stood 6 foot 3 inches tall and has been described as a Right-Handed, Loose Jointed, Beanpole. He was a master of the slow breaking pitch and a strikeout artist without peer. There are very few pitchers in the history of the game that could throw the slow breaking ball as well as Satchel. Satchel started his professional baseball career in 1924 in the old Semi-Pro Southern League, with the Chattanooga Black Lookouts, Birmingham Black Barons, Nashville elite Giants, and the Mobile Tigers.Satchel pitched for the Crawfords of the Negro National League from 1932 to 1937. His pitching record for his first two years was 32 wins, 7 losses in 1932 and 31 wins, 4 losses in 1933. In 1933, he also pitched for 21 straight wins and had 62 consecutive scoreless innings.In the off season Satchel played in exhibition games and fielded his own team, The Satchel Paige All Stars. Satchel was the ultimate showman. He barnstormed the country, even playing for the bearded House of David team while wearing a false red beard. His annual salary at the height of his fame in the Negro leagues was $40,000.
In 1937 and 1938 Satchel played in the Dominican Republic and Mexico. Satchel signed with the Kansas City Monarchs in 1938. He won four consecutive league pennants for the Monarchs from 1939 to 1942 and won 3 out of the 4 games in the 1942 series sweep against the Homestead Grays. He won his fifth pennant with the Monarchs in 1946. Satchel finally broke into the major leagues when Bill Veeck signed him with the Cleveland Indians in 1948. He helped the Indians win the World series that year. He joined the St. Louis Browns in 1951 and was their most effective relief pitcher for three years.Satchel is reported to have pitched in over 2,500 games during his thirty year career, winning over 2000 of those games. Although Satchel didn't enter the major leagues until late in life, he faced many of the best white major league players during exhibition games. He once struck out Rogers Hornsby five times in a single game. In 1934 Paige pitched 13 innings against Dizzy Dean and won the game 1-0. (Dizzy won 30 games that year.) When Satchel was 59 years old, he pitched an exhibition game against the Boston Red Sox, becoming the oldest player to pitch in the major leagues. He threw for three scoreless innings and allowed only one hit. In 1969, Satchel worked as a coach for the Atlanta Braves and in 1971 he was elected to Baseball's Hall of Fame.Satchel died from complications of emphysema in Kansas City, Missouri on June 8, 1982.
Leroy 'Satchel' Paige
1906-1982
Leroy "Satchel" Paige played in the Negro Leagues from 1926-1947, Cleveland AL. 1948-1949, St Louis A.L.1951-1953 and Kansas City A.L. 1965.Paige became a rookie in the major leagues at age 42 in 1948 when Bill Veeck signed him to a contract with the Cleveland Indians.Marc Pachter wroter in Champions of American Sport, "Not a few baseball writers, looking over Paige's performance in his first year with the Cleveland Indians at age forty-two (or more; his age has never been pinned down), seriously suggested that he be named Rookie of the Year. "I declined the position," Paige wryly responded. "I wasn't sure which year the gentlemen had in mind."Although he had been the hero of the Negro Leagues, Satchel Paige had not been the first black player signed to the majors. The year before in 1947, Branch Rickey had signed Jackie Robinson to the Brooklyn Dodgers making him the first black player.In Seasons to Remember Curt Gowdy wrote, "Some people thought that Satchel Paige should have been the first black player in the majors. He'd been a legend for twenty years in the Negro Leagues, the greatest pitcher of his day. Maybe that was why Rickey by passed him-- because Paige's time had passed."William Marshall wrote in Baseball's Pivotal Era 1945-51 that Veeck was criticized for signing Paige in 1948. Many thought Paige was close to fifty. They said the signing was nothing ore than a publicity stunt. Paige, however, soon proved them wrong.
Marhall quoted Jim Hegan, Paige's teammate, who said, "He didn't have many pitches-- mainly a fastball... His greatest asset was control-- all you had to do was put your glove up. I don't care where you put it, he could hit it.... He could throw strikes over (a) gum wrapper." The first time he pitched he threw a nine-inning shutout.According to Pachter, "His first appearance on the mound in Cleveland brought a ten-minute foot-stomping ovation from major-league fans eager to see for themselves such Paige specialities as a slowball he called the "barber," or the "two-hump blooper," guaranteed to graze the batter's chin, or the fastball "Long Tom," or the hesitation pitch, whch he stopped in mid-throw." Marshall wrote,"Paige became an instant gate attraction and the darling of Cleveland's media.....Paige gave Lou Boudreau fits-- he dumped a day's catch of fish in the team's shower, disregarded curfews, and maintained his own schedule." Satchel Paige wrote in his autobiography Maybe I'll Pitch Forever, "... signing Jackie like they did still hurt me deep down. I'd been the guy who'd started all that big talk about letting us in the big time. I'd been the one who'd opened up the major league parks to the colored
teams. I'd been the one who the white boys wanted to barnstorm against. I'd been the one who everybody'd said should be in the majors. But Jackie'd been the first one signed by the white boys and he'd probably be the first one in the majors.""He[Paige] estimated that he pitched twenty-five hundred games-- and won two thousand-- before he ever reached the majors. At his peak, during the thirties, Paige claimed he won sixty games a season and averaged fifteen strikeouts a game," wrote Curt Gowdy with John Powers from Seasons to Remember.Pachter wrote, "Once in 1933, he had a winning stretch of twenty-one consectuive games and sixty-two scoreless innings....His playing schedule was relentless. There were weeks on end when he pitched daily, and twice on Saturday and Sunday. And yet he won and won again."According to the New York Times Book of Sports Legends, Paige's exact age was one of the mysteries in the legend that followed him into the big leagues. "...There was general agreement that he was the oldest player ever to appear in a major league game when he pitched three innings against the Boston Red Sox on September 25, 1965. And, two years later, clearly enjoying his role as an athletic phenomenon, he wrote his autobiography, with the title, "Maybe I'll Pitch Forever."
Pach
ter wrote, "In 1968, at sixty two, he put on the uniform of the Atlanta Braves for the 158 days he needed to qualfy for a pension. Major-league baseball owed him that-- and much more."He was the first of the stars from the old Negro Leagues to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971. Robert Lipsyte wrote that 'A bronze likeness of Paige would be hung somewhere in the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum at Cooperstown, New York. He would not be "technically: enshrined in the Hall of Fame," according to Commissioner Bowie Kuhn, who added, "Realistically, I agree that the Hall of Fame is a state of mind, and what 's important here is how sports fans view Satchel Paige.'Lipsyte added that 'he had been introduced to most of America as a legend, and now was being recognized in an apology.'On his induction into the Hall of Fame, Paige was quoted as saying, "the one change is that baseball has turned Paige from a second class citizen into a second class immortal."According to the New York Times Book of Sports Legends, Paige was born in Mobile, Alabama to John and Lulu Page. The name later became Paige when, "my folks later stuck in the 'i' to make themselves sound more high-toned," Paige was quoted as saying.
New York Times Book of Sports Legends reported that Paige got his nickname when he was seven years old hustling baggage at the railroad depot in Mobile after inventing a contraption for carrying more bags. Paige was quoted as saying, "I rigged up ropes around my shoulders and my waist, and I carried a satchel in each hand and one under each arm....I carried so many satchels that all you could see were satchels. You couldn't see no Leroy Paige."Gowdy wrote that by the time he was out of the game there wasn't much left in Paige's bank account. "He loved tailor-made clothes and fast roadsters and women...If he'd been born thirty years later, he could have had steaks and prime rib until the day he died. His best years were gone before America ever got to appreciate him."Book SourcesChampions of American SportEdited by Marc Pachter with Amy Henderson, Jeannette Hussey, and Margaret C. S. Christman, 1981The National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution Harry N. Abrams., Inc. New YorkNew York Times Book of Sports Legendsedited by Joseph J. Vecchione.Introduction by Ira Berkow 1991New York Times Company Seasons to Remember The Way It Wasin American Sports 1945-1960Curt Gowdy with John Powers, 1993HarperCollins Publishers Baseball's Pivotal Era 1945-1951William Marshall,1999University Press of KentuckyBaseball's Greatest QuotationsPaul Dickson, 1991Harper Collins Publishers
In 1919, scandal hit baseball, discrediting the sport and creating a need for new structure and leadership in order to restore the game. The scandal of 1919 revolved around the Chicago Black Sox club and members of the team who had purposely thrown the game because they had received money. Corruption had infiltrated into baseball causing an uproar from the public. The years of the 1920's witnessed new technological advances like radio, better player performance, the need for new structure and organization as well as social changes, which all contributed to the sport of baseball becoming the most popular spectator sport. Sports heroes also infiltrated the game as well as American society as a result of the powerful performances of such players like Babe Ruth, Lou Gerhig, and Ted Williams. All of these men contributed to the success of baseball.
The radio coverage of baseball created an entertainment sector in which baseball could thrive. It represented a social evolution of
American culture. More and more people began listening to games. Once the stands became so packed due to the increased popularity of the game, people began to enjoy listening to games that they could not attend. It demonstrated the great role that technology played in making baseball the national pastime. For the first time the drama of sporting events was brought into the homes of ordinary Americans. Western Electric and Manufacturing Company's establishment of Station KDKA, which was based in Pittsburgh, in 1920, was first to put games on radio on a commercial and regular basis. Soon thousands of amateur fans were listening in on games and demanded that the formation of a organized broadcasting system be established.21 Soon organization emerged and created broadcasting institutions that followed all sports including boxing and baseball among others. When the Washington Senators met the New York Giants for the 1924 World Series, Western Union went out and recorded 2,200,000 words, while the American Telephone and Telegraph Company relayed the game to more than 100,000 scattered radio sets.22
Structure, organization and a high level of player performance were key parts to revitalizing the game of baseball after the humiliating Black Sox scandal. Society had evolved from an amateur level into a professional one and the standard of play had evolved with it. Judge Landis became the new commissioner of baseball in 1921 after another National Agreement that was signed in the same year. This agreement established a one man commissioner of baseball to regulate and manage the sport of baseball. Landis' objective was to clean up the sport of baseball. Judge Landis became the czar of baseball. He was ruthless and fierce in his determination to clean up baseball. He fixed the game of baseball and made it a respectable game once again. He made sure that corruption, cheating and gambling were eliminated from baseball. Another key component in fueling the transformation of baseball was player performance. Babe Ruth entered the league in 1918 as a pitcher. He then was transformed into a hitter and out fielder and ha
d 29 home runs in 1919, which was two more than the league record set back in 1884. In 1920, he left the Boston Red Soxs for the New York Yankees. There he hit 54 home runs, which was more than any other team. From 1918 through 1934, Babe led the American League in home runs, twelve times with an average of 40 or more per season.23 He averaged slightly more than 50 home runs a season from 1926 through 1931 and he hit a home run every 11.7 times at bat. Before the Yankees had Babe Ruth, the Yankees best annual attendance was 600,000 but when Babe entered their ranks, their attendance increased to more than a million per year.24 The impact of Babe Ruth on baseball was incredible. He became such an icon with the common people. He caused even rival fans to love and cheer him on. Ruth revitalized baseball that had been discredited due to the scandal of 1919. Fans poured out into the stands to see "The Sultan of Swat" hit the long ball. He received nicknames and became a household name. He embodied his role as a sports figure and used it to help the youth of the inner city. He set the example for future sports heroes. Another hero who coexisted with Babe Ruth was Lou Gerhig. He consequently had to play in Babe's shadow. In 1927, when Ruth hit his record making 60th home run, Gerhig hit only 47 homers but also had 175 runs batted in (RBI), which was 11 more than Babe. He also had a batting average of .337, which is still impressive today.25 He was nick named the "Iron Man" because he never missed a game despite injury and illness. His streak was ended when he was diagnosed with Lou Gerhig's disease (ALS). It was not until Cal Ripken Jr. in the 19905 when Gerhig's 2,130 consecutive game streak was broken.26 Although Lou Gerhig was no where near the immortalized status of Babe Ruth, his presence on and off the field helped establish baseball as a respectable game again and he helped cultivate the sport into high status as the most popular spectator sport.
With the dawn of a new decade, baseball entered a new phase in which baseball became more than a game but a necessity for American survival during the Great Depression. Due to stock market crash, baseball emerged as the glue that held society together. The sport of baseball was so important in society that when all were in despair, Americans still had baseball to fall back upon. Despite the importance of baseball, many other leagues began going out of business. Therefore, the game needed to create new features of the game to draw more fans. One invention was night games. In 1930, the first night game was played. Following this success, all the leagues incorporated lights as a feature. Night games increased the size of the audience. During the Great Depression, citizens could not afford to skip work and had less leisure time and less money to spend as before during the roaring twenties. People rather had to make ends meet. Night ball created a way in which fans
could attend games while still go to work during the day. This increased the popularity of the game and allowed baseball to survive during the great depression. Another innovation by owners was to bring the fences in closer. The Big Bang style of play demonstrated by Babe Ruth's home runs was widely popular and drew in many fans. From 1915-1930, the league went from 384 homers to 1,565.27 Organized baseball also implimented an all-star series in 1933. This was a direct result of the East West classic, which pitted black all stars against each other. With owners having seen the popularity of these games and the revenue it brought in for the Negro League realized that they needed to find new ways to bring in capital during the depression. Also realizing the impact of the home run, owners began constructing their ball parks with closer fences to allow more home runs, which generated more excitement from the fans, thus increasing the attendance and profit. Baseball's transformation into a spectator sport was an attempt by owners to capitalize on the game. Fans equaled profit and home runs brought the audience in the stands. The crowds now controlled the game. The era of Live Ball was dictated by the spectators who were now a vital part of the game's success.
Also during this time, the Negro Leagues became an important feature, contributing to the game's success. The success of the Negro Leagues was seen out side of organized baseball; however, the financial capital that owners could accumulate by signing black talent was not realized until after World War II. Although they existed outside organized baseball, the Negro Leagues during the Great Depression became an outlet for Americans who did not live in urban settings. Although African American had been banned from the sport of baseball due to Jim Crow laws, Negro Leagues represented a formidable force, with which to be reckoned. The stars of this league like Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Willie Mayes and others demonstrated that blacks could play baseball as well if not better than whites. Satchel Paige pitched some where around 2,500 games and won 2000 of them.28 Furthermore, he had hundreds of no hitters and shut outs against teams. Buck O'Neil, a player in the Negro Leagues, remembered, "Satchel did to black baseball just what Ruth d
id to white baseball...Ruth kept the franchise going. Just like Ruth after the Black Sox Scandal, here comes Ruth and he brings it back. And this was the same that happened to us...Satchel came. This is the guy that people wanted to see. And he never failed."29In 1934, Paige had 17 strike outs, which tied white major leaguer, Dizzy Dean.30 Another great African American player was Josh Gibson. He like Paige demonstrated during the thirties that black players were equal if not superior to white players. He and Paige increased the popularity of the game. Although their motives at the time was to earn a wage, Gibson and Paige helped fuel the popularity of baseball and further expanded the realm of baseball in other areas other than white cities. Gibson led the league in home runs and no one contested his talent. If he had played a regular season with 550 at bats like the white majors had, he would have reached 81 home runs in 1936.31 This would have broken all records as well as set all hitting records until the present day. Gibson also played in fields in which there were no back fences. Consequently, he did not have as many home runs as he could have had. If Babe Ruth had played under the conditions that Gibson did, history would have been a different story. The teams of the Negro Leagues had great rivalries as well like the white major leagues. The East West Classic was an all star game, which pitted the best black players against each other. This rivalry drew enormous crowds. In 1934, the game drew 25,000 fans and 4000 of them were white.32 The Negro Leagues served as an important function in baseball history. It represented a time in which society could not accept black athletes but rather excluded them. Despite the talent that they possessed and the crowds they drew, African Americans were excluded from baseball until 1947. It was not until after World War II, that American society had evolved to accept black players. Despite their exclusion from the game, the Negro Leagues and the African American players made baseball the most popular spectator sport during this time. They also contributed to the sport's success and how people off all ages, ethnicity, race, class, and gender could participate and enjoy the game.
The 1940's demonstrated a national boom in the economy as well as the popularity of baseball. Between 1939 and 1949, baseball's attendance levels increased three fold, from fifteen million to forty-two million.33 This was due in part to great players like Ted Williams and Joe Dimaggio. These players exemplified the importance of player performance on crowd size. The better these players did and the more drama that surrounded the game, attracted fans. Fans were drawn to the game to see what these players would do next. What had begun with the great pitchers like Cy Young and the great hitter Ty Cobb during the Dead Ball era had transcended into this era of Live Ball. Great athletes became sports heroes and champions. They were able to become such due to the crowds. Ruth's popularity and success can be attributed to his great player performance but the crowd played a vital role as well. If it were not for the crowd, men like Williams and DiMaggio would have been forgotten, but rather they are imprinted in history because of their achievements and the crowds they pleased. In the summer of 1941, twenty-two year old Ted Williams and twenty-six year old Joe DiMaggio put together seasons that will last for as long as there are plaques in Cooperstown. Fellow players and opponents marveled at their accomplishments. Joe DiMaggio put together a fifty-six game hitting streak, which was the best of all time. Ted became the last man to hit .400.34 It was a season that linked their names together forever in history as the two finest hitters to ever play the game. These men were the reason for such success during this time. Fans flocked to see what they would do next and they never went home disappointed. Furthermore due to the insight and vision of one man, Branch Rickey, in 1947, Jackie Robinson became the fist African American player in Major League Baseball.35Due to social evolution, Robinson was able to cross the threshold into white major league baseball. It was due to his tenacity and resolve in the face of adversity that he was chosen to be the first black ball player in MLB. With such ground breaking events in the sport's history, the game of baseball became a fabric of American society and culture. These three men promoted the sport of baseball due to their heroic feats. No player to this day has broken the record of Ted Williams and hit over .400. Likewise, no player has broken DiMaggio's hitting streak record either. Furthermore, no player to this day had to face and beat such odds as Jackie Robinson who had broken the color barrier for the first time. He had defeated a world confined in the color of a person's skin. Robisnon's feat represented a new ear of social and sports history. Baseball seemed as though it could reach any heights and break any record.
Despite such success baseball's popularity would drop drastically as a result of technology and other sports in the future. Technology like railroads, trolleys, electricity, cars, and other innovations had helped to fuel the sport of baseball; however, with the innovation of television baseball's popularity as America's National Pastime declined drastically and never fully recovered. Technological limitations strongly influenced what sports were televised. The large size of baseball stadiums and the small size of the ball caused baseball to be a bad televised sport. The swiftness of the motion of hitting and pitching and throwing were also limited when put on television. The sport of baseball was never truly ready for telecast. The sport had flourished with the help of other technological advances, but with TV, baseball suffered. It did allow historians and future generations the possibility of seeing past games of when the Babe played and other legends. In the aspect of preserving history, television served a vital purpose but it did not help to increase the game's popularity until television's capability increased. Average attendance levels between 1953 and 1978 remained low when compared to levels achieved between 1948 and 1952. Also, in the 1960's and 1970's, baseball's attendance was only half as large as those of the National Football League (NFL).36 Baseball soon became victim to other televised sports like tennis, football, golf, and others. The game still represented the country's past and was still a large part of the economy and culture, but with increasing distractions, baseball lost its hold on many fans. By televising baseball, the aesthetic foundations have been altered and spectatorial sports have lost their sense of drama. Furthermore, it has enabled let the public see the true faults of its sports heroes and caused the game to lose much of its mystique and awe.37
Paige's Biographie "The day I saw Satchel Paige Pitch"
Paige's "Today in history page"
Paige's "A paige from history"
Paige's "Satchel Paige's sports biographies"
Paige's "Leroy (Robert) Satchel Paige hall of fame"
Paige's "Never looked back"
Major portions of the above text were directly copied from public domain documents found on the internet. I have listed those Internet addresses beneath for your convenience.
www.flamingtext.com
www.google.com
www.google.com/satchelpaigepictures
www.flamingtext.com/barsbuttons
