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.
Few reliable records or news reports survive about players in the
Negro Leagues. Through dogged detective work, award-winning author
and journalist Larry Tye has tracked down the truth about this
majestic and enigmatic pitcher, interviewing more than two hundred
Negro Leaguers and Major Leaguers, talking to family and friends
who had never told their stories before, and retracing Paige's
steps across the continent. Here is the stirring account of the
child born to an Alabama washerwoman with twelve young mouths to
feed, the boy who earned the nickname "Satchel" from his
enterprising work as a railroad porter, the young man who took up
baseball on the streets and in reform school, inventing his
trademark hesitation pitch while throwing bricks at rival gang
members.
Tye shows Paige barnstorming across America and growing into the
superstar hurler of the Negro Leagues, a marvel who set records so
eye-popping they seemed like misprints, spent as much money as he
made, and left tickets for "Mrs. Paige" that were picked up by a
different woman at each game. In unprecedented detail, Tye reveals
how Paige, hurt and angry when Jackie Robinson beat him to the
Majors, emerged at the age of forty-two to help propel the
Cleveland Indians to the World Series. He threw his last pitch from
a big-league mound at an improbable fifty-nine. ("Age is a case of
mind over matter," he said. "If you don't mind, it don't matter.")
More than a fascinating account of a baseball odyssey, Satchel
rewrites our history of the integration of the sport, with Satchel
Paige in a starring role. This is a powerful portrait of an
American hero who employed a shuffling stereotype to disarm critics
and racists, floated comical legends about himself-including about
his own age-to deflect inquiry and remain elusive, and in the
process methodically built his own myth. "Don't look back," he
famously said. "Something might be gaining on you." Separating the
truth from the legend, Satchel is a remarkable accomplishment, as
large as this larger-than-life man.
"From the Hardcover edition."
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