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Circa 1948 Satchel Paige Rookie Era Photograph (PSA Type I & Louisville Slugger LOA)
"Don't look back," advised Satchel Paige. "Something might be gaining on you." And Leroy "Satchel" Paige didn't look back, as he kept on looking forward, across five decades of professional baseball play. Presented is a 1948 Leroy "Satchel" Paige Type I original Cleveland Indians "rookie" photograph taken by Emmet Wiggins. In 1942, Paige was a rookie right-hander with Cleveland at the age of 42, the oldest rookie in MLB history. It wasn't any lack of talent that kept Paige out of so-called "organized" baseball. Paige could have played at least two decades earlier, except for baseball's unwritten, but real, color line. When Paige pitched for the Indians in '42, he became the first African American pitcher in the American League and only the seventh African American player in modern Major League history. Musician Johnny Cash sang "I've Been Everywhere," a hit tune. The lyrics to that song fit Paige to a "T." Paige played in the Negro Leagues in the United States, in Mexico, in Puerto Rico, in Cuba, in the Dominican Republic, in Canada - everywhere. Statistics on his career are sketchy, but Major Leaguers who faced him in exhibition games in the off-season knew of his immense talent. Hall of Famer Joe DiMaggio termed Paige "the best and fastest pitcher I ever faced." Paige was 6-1, with a 2.48 ERA during his long-delayed rookie season, and 28-31, with a 3.29 ERA for his years in the American League. He most likely pitched in over 2,000 games in his overall career, but most of those games do not appear in his statistics. He also pitched for the St. Louis Browns and the Kansas City Athletics in the American League. His lone appearance with the Athletics was on Sept. 25, 1965, when Paige pitched three scoreless innings against the Boston Red Sox when he was 58 years old. The offered photo is 8.25x10" framed to 12x14". There is a 0.75x2.75" plaque near the bottom of the frame that reads, "SATCHEL PAIGE 1948." The photograph has a few, small ink spots, but is in otherwise excellent condition. The photograph comes with a PSA LOA and a Louisville Slugger on back of the PSA LOA.
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