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Lot # 944: 1957 Satchel Paige & His Team of All-Stars vs. Portland Twins Barnstorming Broadside

Starting Bid: $500.00

Bids: 2 (Bid History)

Time Left: Auction closed
Lot / Auction Closed




This lot is closed. Bidding is not allowed.

Item was in Auction "Fall Classic 2022",
which ran from 11/20/2022 7:00 PM to
12/10/2022 10:00 PM



Displayed is a 1957 broadside advertising the upcoming barnstorming appearance of an all-time legend, Leroy "Satchel" Paige and his All-Stars. "Don't look back," advised Hall of Famer Paige. "Something might be gaining on you." If Paige had wanted, he certainly had a lot to look back upon. By his own estimation, Paige pitched in over 2,500 games and won over 2,000 between 1922 and 1963. These were games ranging from contests against amateur and semi-pro-opponents, to games in the Negro Leagues, and games in the Major Leagues. Because of the so-called "color line," Paige was excluded from the Big Leagues for thirty years. Johnny Cash sang the hit song "I've Been Everywhere." How apropos for Paige, who actually was. Because of racial discrimination, Paige had to play in the Negro Leagues and barnstorm over the whole baseball world in order to make his living. He made a fine living because he was an intelligent businessman who would offer his services as a sort of freelance pitcher to almost anyone, and he could drive a hard bargain. For many years, Paige pitched for his hometown Negro American League squad, the Kansas City Monarchs. But the Negro Leagues often employed players who weren't signed to contracts, and even when they were, players would jump from team to team, sometimes without league opposition. Thus, Paige would go from team to team, sign on to pitch for other Negro League teams in exhibition games, play in Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, anywhere. With the rules in the Negro Leagues often bent or just plain ignored, Paige became a peripatetic presence all over the baseball globe. The Negro Leagues began to wither when Jackie Robinson broke the color line, and in the mid-1950s the Negro League teams were no more, except for the independent touring Indianapolis Clowns. When barnstorming, Paige would be the main drawing card, and he would often start a game and pitch three innings. He would often pitch many days in a row this way. In 1948, Paige became the first African American pitcher in the American League when he played for the Cleveland Indians at the age of 41, his official age, though he may have been older. Paige had a 6-1 record with a 2.48 ERA that year for Cleveland, and the Indians won the World Series. Paige pitched in all or part of six Major League seasons pitching his final game in a special appearance in an official game when he was 59-years-old years in 1965 when he pitched three innings for his hometown Kansas City Athletics against the Boston Red Sox and held the Sox scoreless in a three-inning stint, allowing only one hit. The broadside, probably originally red with black lettering, measures 13x21" and in part states, "Satchel Paige Most Fabulous Character in Baseball." The broadside is in satisfactory condition, with some fading and minor paper loss. The broadside, advertising the barnstorming game between "The Satchel Paige All-Stars and the Portland Twins" - a local amateur or semi-pro team - is a valued memento from an earlier era - touting one of the very best pitchers, and entertainers, of all time.

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