| Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend |  | Author: Larry Tye
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Category: Book
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Rating:  33 reviews
Sales Rank: 55,232
Media: Paperback
Pages: 432
Number Of Items: 1
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Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.5 x 1
ISBN: 0812977971
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.357092
EAN: 9780812977974
Publication Date: May 4, 2010
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Product Description
He is that rare American icon who has never been captured in a biography worthy of him. Now, at last, here is the superbly researched, spellbindingly told story of athlete, showman, philosopher, and boundary breaker Leroy “Satchel” Paige.
Through dogged research and extensive interviews, award-winning author and journalist Larry Tye has tracked down the truth about this majestic and enigmatic pitcher. Here is the stirring account of the child born to a poor Alabama washerwoman, the boy who earned his nickname from his enterprising work as a railroad porter, and the young man who took up baseball on the streets and in reform school before becoming the superstar hurler of the Negro Leagues.
In unprecedented detail, Tye reveals how Paige, hurt and angry when Jackie Robinson beat him in breaking the Majors’ color barrier, emerged at the improbable age of forty-two to help propel the Cleveland Indians to the World Series. (“Age is a case of mind over matter,” he said. “If you don’t mind, it don’t matter.”)
Rewriting our history of baseball’s integration with Paige in the starring role and separating truth from legend, Satchel is a story as large as this larger-than-life man.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 33
 An Incredible "Paige" in American History June 9, 2009
Mr. Richard D. Coreno (Berea, Ohio USA)
29 out of 30 found this review helpful
With impeccable scholarship and a meticulous understanding of American history, author Larry Tye delivers a definitive exploration of Satchel Paige in Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend (June 2009, Random House).
Delving into the myths, legend and actual facts surrounding arguably the greatest professional pitcher ever, Tye paints an incredible portrait that began on July 7, 1906, when Leroy Robert Paige was born in Mobile, Alabama, and will forever be a part of pop/sports culture, though he passed away on June 8, 1982, after battling emphysema for a number of years.
"I ain't ever had a job. I just always played baseball," says Paige, which adeptly summarizes an amazing career on the diamond at a time when the only ball was white, through the re-integration of Major League Baseball to 1968, when the Atlanta Braves took a major step to right a wrong that would have left the superstar who gave so much without a pension.
But before Paige became the iconic ace on the mound, he had early brushes with truancy, which did not destroy the care and concern from his mother, Lula Paige. Mentors like Edward Byrd, Alex Herman, Big Bill Gatewood brought him an understanding in the art of pitching. Paige went from being released from reform school (1923), to playing semi-pro ball in Mobile (1924) to signing his first pro contract in 1926.
And it was then that Paige's cunning strategy on the field, quick wit and unique charm disarmed racists and made him one of the greats in the various manifestations of the Negro Leagues and barnstorming tours with MLB (white) players. The tours with Dizzy Dean became huge draws and fueled the growing fascination of the right-hander who was already larger-than-life.
"Satchel actually had been challenging Jim Crow ever since he took his pitching on the road," writes Tye, "and he did that from the beginning. They called freelance play like that barnstorming, to distinguish it from formal league games."
Paige was the ultimate free agent, with his services being "rented out" by his team to other clubs and playing winter ball in the Caribbean. He was also accused of skipping out on contracts when better offers came his way.
Before he was the "Yankee Clipper," Joe DiMaggio - the Pacific Coast League's Most Valuable Player - proved he belonged in MLB in February 1936 after facing Paige, who was asked to pitch in the exhibition game by the New York Yankees. "DIMAGGIO ALL WE HOPED HE'D BE. HIT SATCH ONE FOR FOUR," is the post-game report from a Yankee scout to management.
Tye places particular emphasis on the 1930s, which was a decade of great triumphs and a hideously hard fall from the summit of sports. Franchise owner Neil Churchill brought Paige to Bismarck, North Dakota, in 1933 and 1935 to play on his integrated club. In one of the greatest pro games ever, more than 27,000 fans in Yankee Stadium in 1934 watched a spectacular duel between Paige and Stuart "Slim" Jones. And owner J.L. Wilkinson of the Kansas City Monarchs removed Paige from the scrap heap in 1938 and 1939 when arm woes appeared to have destroyed his career.
The 1945 re-integration of MLB by Jackie Robinson with the Brooklyn Dodgers, Paige's July 7, 1948, signing with the Cleveland Indians and stints with the St. Louis Browns and - in 1965 - Kansas City A's are packaged well with the 1971 induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum. And upon reflection in the twilight years, Paige tackled numerous issues surrounding the hateful treatment of NLB players, racism and the slights he personally felt in any number of venues.
"It happens to lots of leading men as they fade into supporting roles. Loneliness sets in, along with sadness," Tye writes. "There is more time to remember all you have achieved and to wonder why others have forgotten. There are endless hours to tally who stood by you, and who failed to. Satchel had suffered enough real indignities to keep anyone thinking for a long time."
The victories and defeats on the field of play by Paige are chronicled in four pages of pitching statistics. But what Tye proves beyond a shadow of a doubt is the biggest win of them all came when Jim Crow couldn't get the bat off its shoulder when Paige fired three blazing fastballs for called strikes.
A Bittersweet Biography of an All-time Great June 22, 2009
Larry Underwood (Scottsdale, AZ)
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
Larry Tye delivers a wonderful story of the legendary Satchel Paige, perhaps the greatest pitcher of all-time, who was denied national adulation for the bulk of his professional career; toiling in relative obsurity in the Negro Leagues, before finally getting called up to the Big Leagues, with Cleveland in 1948. He was 42.
It's difficult to imagine how many games Paige might've won had he been allowed to pitch in the Major Leagues during the peak of his physical abilities, with a good or bad team. It wouldn't have mattered. Just like Steve Carlton won 27 games for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1972---an otherwise moribund team---Paige may have done as well or better. The sad reality is he never had the chance.
However, this was a man who didn't mourn his unfulfilled potential in the spotlight. His charismatic personality was infectious, and radiated a charm that made him a national icon during his brief Major League career. His "rookie" season, he won 6 out of 7 starts, with a 2.48 earned run average for the World Champion Cleveland Indians. It's doubtful they would've made it to the Series without Satchell Paige.
Perhaps even more remarkable was the year Paige put together for the old St Louis Browns (a horrible team) in 1952, when he posted a 12 and 10 record with an e.r.a. slightly over three; at the tender age of 46. Just to prove how amazing this man was, he even pitched three innings of shut-out ball for the Kansas City A's, in 1965. He was only 59. I'll never forget reading that story in the newspaper as a youngster, thinking that anyone over 40 was half-dead; but 59? I became an instant fan of this gregarious celebrity.
Throughout the rest of his life, Paige always displayed a charisma and effervesence rarely seen by anyone, in any walk of life. His stories about the Negro Leagues, with players such as Josh Gibson, Buck O'Neal, Cool Papa Bell, among others, brought them to life for me. It also reminded me of the injustice these greats had to endure because this country was too narrow-minded to accept the African American into the game, until it was too late to make a difference to Paige and other players of his era.
This book is destined for greatness; Tye brings to life a wonderful story of one of baseball's legendary athletes; who was perhaps born a quarter century too soon to achieve greater fame and glory. Hopefully, this book will educate an entire generation of baseball fans about the bittersweet life story of Satchell Paige; an American legend.
Tye Delivers A "Paige-turner" With Something For Everyone June 27, 2009
C. A. Webb (Jackson, MS)
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
If you ignore this book simply because you were NOT a sports lover or like me had never heard of Satchel Paige before, you are doing yourself and those around you a great disservice. SATCHEL is the result of a skillful writer who is able to take the life of someone great and give it to readers in a way that inclues something for everyone.
Who couldn't relate to a man who can from nothing, wasn't supposed to become anything and was able to build a brand name for himself that would appeal and inspire so many. That is what Satchel Paige did, and that is what his story will continue to do. I learned from this biography that success is not just what you have achieved for yourself, but what you have been able to give to others through your life.
We see a man who inspite of all of his accomplishments, was still plagued by the ghosts of his past. Who couldn't relate to that?
Kudos to Larry Tye for taking us inside the man and not just inside the sport. I think everyone who picks up this book and really digest it will be a better man or woman because of it.
Incredible page-turner about the mystical, magical SATCHEL PAIGE June 24, 2009
Joel Katte (Home of the Milwaukee Brewers)
6 out of 8 found this review helpful
As a boy I knew the stories of Satchel Paige. I wondered if they were all true. In middle school I watched 8mm film footage of his fluid pitching mechanics. And in high school I read the following "To Satch" poem by Samual Washington Allen:
Sometimes I feel like I will never stop
Just go on forever
Till one fine mornin
I'm gonna reach up and grab me a handfulla stars
Swing out my long lean leg
And whip three hot strikes burnin down the heavens
And look over a God and say
How about that!!!!
But it wasn't until I picked up this book and whipped through it faster than a Paige fastball that I realized the full magnitude this remarkable man left on baseball and life.
A Baseball Legend Comes to Life July 1, 2009
JasonHL (IL)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Satchel Paige finally is receiving the attention he so richly deserves in this detailed biography by Larry Tye. The author reveals fresh information about the legend, his teammates and race relations in the early days of baseball. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in America's favorite pastime.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 33
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