Alaska Employment Law

Satchel, by Larry Tye – I didn’t know much about Satchel Paige, other than his iconic status as the greatest pitcher in the old Negro Leagues of baseball and one of the greatest pitchers of all time anywhere.  Born in Mobile, Alabama in 1906, Leroy Page became “Satchel” as a railroad porter, trying to make a dime carrying bags for arriving train passengers, when he rigged up a shoulder device that let him carry several satchels at once.  He became “Paige,” with an extra letter, because his mother Lula Coleman Page thought it looked fancier.  I suppose she was right.  There is not much doubt that Paige was a phenomenal pitcher and a marquee star.  He loved attention and women, and he was a real show boater.

What is interesting about his story is that he was, in a way, one of the first important free agents, since he pitched for teams – some would say as many as 250 – that were not subject to league rules or anything like the reserve clause that kept Major Leaguers bound to their teams forever (well, until 1975).  Satchel followed the money, and he became wealthy for a time.  When it appeared in the late 1940s that the Major Leagues would finally be integrated, many Negro Leagues players, as well as Major League players, assumed that Paige would be the logical first one in.  But Branch Rickey surmised, probably correctly, that Paige would not put up with the abuse to which he would doubtless have been subjected, and he chose instead the more measured and, at that time, rather less talented and certainly less famous Jackie Robinson.  Paige made it to the Cleveland Indians in 1948 and is still the oldest pitcher named to an All-Star Team (sorry, Tim Wakefield).  Paige came out of retirement in 1965 at age 59 (!) and started a game for the Kansas City Athletics against the Boston Red Sox, pitching three shutout innings in his last Major League appearance.  (Trivia:  last player to get a hit off Satchel Paige?  The man they call Yaz.)  Ted Williams urged admission of Paige to the Baseball Hall of Fame at Ted’s own Hall of Fame induction speech in 1966, and Paige himself was elected to the Hall in 1971.

In 1953 Collier’s magazine published Paige’s rules for living.  While there is evidence he had help composing them, they are perfectly consistent with his outlook.

1. “Avoid fried meats which angry up the blood.”
2. “If your stomach disputes you, lie down and pacify it with cool thoughts.”
3. “Keep the juices flowing by jangling around gently as you move.”
4. “Go very light on the vices, such as carrying on in society — the social ramble ain’t restful.”
5. “Avoid running at all times.”
6. “And don’t look back — something might be gaining on you.”