"Don't look back. Something might be gaining on you," advised Hall of Famer Satchel Paige in one of his most-revered maxims. Displayed is a circa 1951-53 Satchel Paige signed photograph, with a PSA/DNA Certified Auto Grade of "MINT 9." The Hall of Fame right-hander followed his own advice about not looking back in a career that spanned five decades. He started pitching professionally with the Chattanooga Black Lookouts of the Negro Southern League in 1926. He played for numerous teams in the Negro Leagues, including famed teams such as the Pittsburgh Crawfords (1933-34 & '36) and the Kansas City Monarchs (1940-41, & '42 & 1944-47). For most of his career, the unofficial "Color Line" kept him from playing Major League baseball. During his days in the Negro Leagues, in the baseball off-season, he played all over the Baseball Globe: Cuba, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic. A baseball entrepreneur who marched to the beat of his own drummer, Paige often jumped teams and frequently pitched in-season exhibition games for many Negro League teams while he was under contract to pitch regular season games of the Negro Leagues for another team. 

Finally, in the season following Jackie Robinson's breaking of the Color Line in 1947, Paige made his long-delayed Major League debut in 1948, with the Cleveland Indians. At age 42, he went 6-1 that year, with a 2.48 ERA as he helped Cleveland to the AL pennant. Paige pitched in a game in the '48 World Series that the Indians lost to the Boston Braves, and Paige became the first African American to pitch in a Major League World Series. Paige played all of his Major League baseball in the American League: Cleveland Indians (1948-49), St. Louis Browns (1951-53) and an incredible one-game appearance with the Kansas City Athletics in 1965, when he was 59 years old. Paige threw three scoreless innings against the Boston Red Sox, with Carl Yastrzemski getting the only Bosox hit, a double. 

The offered signed black & white photo shows Paige in his St. Louis Browns home uniform. On back is "Satchel Paige," written in blue ink by an unknown hand. Using a fine tip black marker, Paige signed the photo as "Satchel Paige" below an inscription, most likely penned by Paige, reading, "From -." The approx. 8x10" photograph has been encapsulated and has a PSA/DNA CERTIFIED AUTO GRADE (85367672) as "MINT 9." There are a few stains on the top left, and the photo is in overall VERY GOOD condition.