Basic HTML Version
touchline feature
18 | Touchline issue 23 | April 2016
S
atchel Paige’s story stands out in sports
history as one of the longest and most
flamboyant. Primarily set in the first half of
the 20th century, it was influenced heavily
by the deep social divides that coloured that
era. For Paige to overcome these restrictions,
it required great talent. For him to become an
American legend, that needed something more.
Today, Paige would be a sports superstar, in the realm
of Lionel Messi or Michael Jordan. He was that good.
Given the nature of his career, it is impossible to know
how good he actually was. Even in a statistics-driven
sport like baseball, the numbers we have on him
are filled with gaps, exaggerations and all manner of
technical failures. Paige himself kept records: he claims
to have played in 2500 games, winning 2000 of them.
But being an African-American in a time of segregation,
he spent decades trying to make ends meet. He was
a true journeyman, playing for possibly hundreds of
teams, always pushing for a bigger, better payday.
But despite his workman-like trudge across America
and beyond, he became an inspiration to millions with
his ability, dedication and charisma. It would be trite to
claim his success as a fulfilment of the American Dream,
because despite his success, it was against the odds.
America in no way supported his rise to fame. It was all
Satchel’s doing.
He was born sometime around 1906 in Alabama,
though later claimed that he did not know his exact age
because a goat ate the Bible in which they kept his birth
certificate. This sort of insouciance was part of what
made Paige such a character. Paige lost his father in the
1920s. It was around this time that the family added the
“i” to their surname. Satchel said it sounded more classy
with the addition of the letter.
Being an African-American in Alabama in the 20s was
SATCHE L PA I GE :
AMERICAN
LEGEND