American baseball legend, Leroy “Satchel” Paige, said to be born on July 7, 1906, was the first African American man to be inducted into the Major League’s Hall of Fame. Leroy Robert Page (original spelling) grew up in Mobile, Alabama and, during his youth, made money for his family by carrying luggage for businessmen at the train station. After committing petty theft at the age of 12, Paige was sent to reform school. He went on to attend the Industrial School for Negro Children in Mount Meigs, Alabama, where a coach by the name of Edward Byrd taught him how to pitch a baseball. It was there his lifelong affair with baseball began. Paige remarked about his time at the school, “ You might say I traded five years of freedom to learn how to pitch."
Paige’s professional career began in 1926, pitching for multiple teams in the Negro Leagues. Despite being known as one of the greatest pitchers in all of baseball, he was barred from the Major Leagues because of his race. Paige, like other players at the time, frequently moved from team to team for higher pay. In the 1930s, Paige played, on and off, for the Pittsburgh Crawford’s, a team in the Negro National League, between short stints with other teams in the U.S. and throughout the world, including teams in the Dominican Republic, where all the clubs were integrated. Paige made his American League debut in 1948, at the age of 42, when Bill Veeck gave him a contract with the Indians. According to baseballhall.org, that season, “Paige went 6-1 with three complete games and a save and a 2.47 earned-run average.” That year, Cleveland went on to win the AL pennant in a one-game playoff against Boston, then captured the World Series title in six games against the Braves. Paige became the first African-American pitcher to pitch in the World Series when he worked two-thirds of an inning in Game 5. Paige was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1971 and passed away in June of 1982.
To learn more about Satchel Paige, visit:
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/history/mlb_negro_leagues_profile.jsp?player=paige_satchel
https://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h3777.html
http://www.satchelpaige.com/bio2.html
https://www.biography.com/people/satchel-paige-9431917
https://baseballhall.org/hall-of-famers/paige-satchel