| Playing with Passion: Profiles of Negro League baseball players. |
Leroy "Satchel" Page
Position: Pitcher
Career: 1926 – 1954
orn in 1906, "Satchel" Page is said to have been to the Negro League Baseball what Babe Ruth was to the majors—a rare combination of talent and personality that captured the imaginations of fans across America. Through the darkest days of the Great Depression, his remarkable pitching skills and showmanship are credited with filling ballparks everywhere and keeping the game alive.
Page’s legendary performances with the Pittsburgh Crawfords and NY Black Yankees firmly established his reputation as black baseball’s premier pitcher while his folksy humor established him with sportswriters as black baseball’s premier personality.
Page’s career standings are extraordinary, including more than 300 pitching shutouts and an estimated 1500+ wins. In 1939, he began a nine-year stint with the Kansas City Monarchs and led them to four consecutive Negro American League pennants and a Negro World Series Championship in 1942. At age 42, he became the oldest rookie in major league history when he joined the Cleveland Indians during the 1948 pennant race to help the Indians clinch the American League title and proceed to the World Series. In 1971, he became the first Negro League star honored with induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.
*Players' biographies are excerpted from copyrighted materials and used with permission of the Negro League Baseball Players Association (www.NLBPA.com)
