Satchel

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The superbly researched, spellbindingly told story of athlete, showman, philosopher, and boundary breaker Leroy “Satchel” Paige “Among the rare biographies of an athlete that transcend sports . . . gives us the man as well as the myth.”—The Boston Globe 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.

Presents quips, anecdotes, quotations, and observations from Satchel Paige that describe his experiences in the Negro League and in major league baseball, his thoughts on fellow players, his views on race, and tributes from others.

Though Satchel Paige lived into the early 1980s, much of our information about his life and especially his career is the stuff of anecdote. He is nevertheless a central figure--arguably the central figure--in our reconstructions of Negro Leagues history. This collection of papers from the 9th Annual Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference focuses on the celebrity of Satchel Paige and the team he is most closely associated with, the Kansas City Monarchs. Accounts of Paige's exploits are scrutinized and the effects of his fame, on both the contemporary perception of black baseball and its depiction in the years since, are discussed.

Satchel Paige was an enormously popular pitcher whose career spanned nearly thirty seasons across numerous teams. When he joined the Cleveland Indians in 1948, he became the oldest major league rookie on a major league team, and he was the first Negro league player to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Paige is often considered one of the most talented and entertaining pitchers of any race to have ever played baseball. This engaging narrative of both his successes and struggles introduces young readers to America's complicated racial and political landscape in the early twentieth century.

Create 15 stunning tote bag designs using two reusable templates. The 15 tote bag designs are created using the templates contained within the book. Using two templates, you can create 15 very different bags; each made using different techniques, pockets, straps and fastenings, to create 15 very different results. The templates can also be used for your own further design variations, as you mix and match the techniques covered within the book; Debbie gives advice on how to adapt and create your own unique designs. Each project in the book is explained using Debbie’s trademark style and step-by-step photography, and there is also a comprehensive techniques section and a guide to using the templates.