"CLASSIC BASEBALL" CUSTOM WTHBALLS SET: SATCHEL PAIGE

Time to add the one and only Satchel Paige to my long-running WTHBALLS custom "Classic Baseball" set, always a fun player to have in any checklist:

The stories of Paige in his prime are endless, and while most are embellished beyond any scope of reality, the man was an incredible pitcher that many Major League stars who opposed him during his prime went out of their way to say so.

On the Major League level, Paige made his debut in 1948 with Cleveland at the ripe old age of 41, going 6-1 with a 2.48 earned run average over 21 games, seven of which were starts.

The following season he went 4-7 with a 3.04 E.R.A., but ended up missing all of 1950 before coming back to pitch three more years with the St. Louis Browns, going a combined 18-23 with a couple of shutouts and 26 saves over 126 games, 13 of which were starts.

We're talking about a man who was 46 years old at the end of that run!

Move ahead twelve years, in 1965, and Paige took the mound at the age of 58 as a promotional stunt with the Kansas City A's, yet still managed to pitch three innings, giving up a sole hit with no walks, with a strikeout thrown in for good measure! Hilarious!

In those six truncated seasons in the Majors, Paige went a combined 28-31 with a 3.29 earned run average, 288 strikeouts and two shutouts over 179 games and 476 innings.

But it was his legendary status in the Negro Leagues that made him a baseball immortal within the halls of Cooperstown.

 

REVISITING MY 1971 HALL OF FAME INDUCTION CARD FOR SATCHEL PAIGE

Thought it would be fun to revisit another 10-year-old post here on the blog today, this one of my 1971 "Hall of Fame Induction" card of the great Satchel Paige, beginning what was FINALLY some recognition by the powers that be in Cooperstown for the Negro League greats that deserved their place in the Hall:

Paige was inducted into the Hall by special committee, the Negro League Committee, and was an obvious choice.

The stories of Paige in his prime are endless, and while most are embellished beyond any scope of reality, the man was an incredible pitcher that many Major League stars who opposed him during his prime went out of their way to say so.

On the Major League level, Paige made his debut in 1948 with Cleveland at the ripe old age of 41, going 6-1 with a 2.48 earned run average over 21 games, seven of which were starts.

The following season he went 4-7 with a 3.04 E.R.A., but ended up missing all of 1950 before coming back to pitch three more years with the St. Louis Browns, going a combined 18-23 with a couple of shutouts and 26 saves over 126 games, 13 of which were starts.

We're talking about a man who was 46 years old at the end of that run!

Move ahead twelve years, in 1965, and Paige took the mound at the age of 58 as a promotional stunt with the Kansas City A's, yet still managed to pitch three innings, giving up a sole hit with no walks, with a strikeout thrown in for good measure! Hilarious!

In those six truncated seasons in the Majors, Paige went a combined 28-31 with a 3.29 earned run average, 288 strikeouts and two shutouts over 179 games and 476 innings.

But it was his legendary status in the Negro Leagues that made him a baseball immortal within the halls of Cooperstown.

 

VINTAGE SPECIAL! "MISSING" 1954 WILSON'S FRANKS SATCHEL PAIGE

Super fun card to create and add to the WTHBALLS stable, a "missing" 1954 Wilson Franks Satchel Paige edition, celebrating the legend during his stint with the St. Louis Browns:

Now THIS would have been an awesome card to exist, though most likely painful for collectors to chase these days in pursuit of perhaps the greatest baseball odd-ball set of the era.

Paige just wrapped up his third and final season with the Browns in 1953, appearing in 57 games at the age of 46, posting a record of 3-9 with a 3.53 earned run average over 117.1 innings, saving 11 games and making his second straight All-Star team.

From his start as a 20-year old playing for the Birmingham Black Barons in 1927 to his final Major League appearance as a 58-year old for the Kansas City Athletics, Paige became an American icon not only for his on-field play but for his infectious personality.
Though his career Negro League record is listed as 100-50 over 18-seasons, he won countless other games along the way, as was the usual for the Negro Leagues as they played exhibition and non-league games during gaps in their schedule.
His stories are legend, enough so that by the time the Baseball Hall of Fame got off their ass and finally began electing Negro League all-time greats to Cooperstown, Paige was the very 1st to be so honored.
A 5x time Negro League all-star, 2x American League all-star, Negro League champ in 1942 with the Homestead Grays, and Major League World Champion with the 1948 Cleveland Indians, Paige left a baseball legacy that few could come close to.

 

CUSTOM SPOTLIGHT: "MISSING" 1961 FLEER ALL-TIME GREATS SATCHEL PAIGE

Good day everyone!

Up on the blog today, we have the great Satchel Paige with a "missing" 1961 Fleer "All-Time Greats" card, adding to my Josh Gibson version posted here a couple weeks back:

 

The Paige and Gibson cards were added as a bonus to my 1963 Fleer "Lost Second Series" set released a few months back.

As for Paige, from his start as a 20-year old playing for the Birmingham Black Barons in 1927 to his final Major League appearance as a 58-year old for the Kansas City Athletics, Paige became an American icon not only for his on-field play but for his infectious personality.
Though his career Negro League record is listed as 100-50 over 18-seasons, he won countless other games along the way, as was the usual for the Negro Leagues as they played exhibition and non-league games during gaps in their schedule.
His stories are legend, enough so that by the time the Baseball Hall of Fame got off their ass and finally began electing Negro League all-time greats to Cooperstown, Paige was the very 1st to be so honored.
A 5x time Negro League all-star, 2x American League all-star, Negro League champ in 1942 with the Homestead Grays, and Major League World Champion with the 1948 Cleveland Indians, Paige left a baseball legacy that few could come close to.

WTHBALLS CUSTOM NEGRO LEAGUE SET: SATCHEL PAIGE

On the blog today, a spotlight on one of the greatest baseball players and characters the game has ever seen, Satchel Paige, from my "Negro League Legends" custom set released about a year ago:

 

From his start as a 20-year old playing for the Birmingham Black Barons in 1927 to his final Major League appearance as a 58-year old for the Kansas City Athletics, Paige became an American icon not only for his on-field play but for his infectious personality.
Though his career Negro League record is listed as 100-50 over 18-seasons, he won countless other games along the way, as was the usual for the Negro Leagues as they played exhibition and non-league games during gaps in their schedule.
His stories are legend, enough so that by the time the Baseball Hall of Fame got off their ass and finally began electing Negro League all-time greats to Cooperstown, Paige was the very 1st to be so honored.
A 5x time Negro League all-star, 2x American League all-star, Negro League champ in 1942 with the Homestead Grays, and Major League World Champion with the 1948 Cleveland Indians, Paige left a baseball legacy that few could come close to.

JUST FOR THE FUN OF IT: 1966 SATCHEL PAIGE

Today on the blog, just for the fun of it, we have a "not so missing" 1966 card for the great Satchel Paige, a card that was featured in my last custom set the "Whole Nine":

 

On September 25th of 1965, as a publicity stunt by the publicity-loving Charlie Finley, owner of the Kansas City Athletics, the 58-year-old Paige was "signed" to pitch a Major League game.

Twelve years removed from his last Big League game, the incredible ageless one did not disappoint, as he pitched three innings of scoreless ball against the Boston Red Sox, allowing only one hit while striking out a batter.

Just phenomenal, and adding to the legend that was Satchel Paige!

From his start as a 20-year old playing for the Birmingham Black Barons in 1927 to his final Major League appearance as a 58-year old for the Kansas City Athletics, Paige became an American icon not only for his on-field play but for his infectious personality.
Though his career Negro League record is listed as 100-50 over 18-seasons, he won countless other games along the way, as was the usual for the Negro Leagues as they played exhibition and non-league games during gaps in their schedule.
His stories are legend, enough so that by the time the Baseball Hall of Fame got off their ass and finally began electing Negro League all-time greats to Cooperstown, Paige was the very 1st to be so honored.
A 5x time Negro League all-star, 2x American League all-star, Negro League champ in 1942 with the Homestead Grays, and Major League World Champion with the 1948 Cleveland Indians, Paige left a baseball legacy that few could come close to.

This card was one of 16 produced for my "Whole Nine" set, which also had full statistic backs in my October, 2021 set.

Featuring other fun cards "that never were" like 1959 Ted Williams, 1933 Delong Babe Ruth, 1966 Steve Carlton, it was available for a short time through yours truly.

"NEGRO LEAGUE LEGENDS" SPECIAL EDITION SET AVAILABLE NOW!

Hello everyone!

For those interested, my newest custom set, "Negro League Legends", is now available for purchase! See below all photos for ordering instructions.

I've included images of every aspect of the set to give you all as full an idea of what went into this as possible:

 

 

 

There are 25-individual player cards, as well as a title card featuring Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson. There is also a raised glossy insert celebrating one of the greatest ballclubs ever to take the field, the 1931 Homestead Grays.

I have also included a four-stamp panel of the stamps I had printed up for the packaging, figuring you'd all like a few of those thrown in to help complete the release.

All of this comes bound in gold foil, then packaged inside a special fold-out folio you see in the images attached.

These sets are numbered, and I have made 80, with an additional 20 possible if needed.

The sets are $20 plus $5.00 shipping, and if you buy more than one set the shipping stays the same, just like with my pack releases. So $5 shipping no matter how many sets you buy!

On top of all of that, once the sets are sold, I will ask you to check your sets to see which one of you ALSO had an extra tag inserted into your set. Only ONE of you will then also win at no extra charge the special 1-of-1 Josh Gibson card I mentioned last week.

I didn't add images here so as not to confuse anyone. But once the set is sold I will send out another email with all the images you need to see which one of you gets the special bonus card!

The 1-of-1 Josh Gibson card is mounted on a gold foil block, which was then mounted on the center panel of the fold-out folio, with special glossy photos of the all-time great decorating the sides. There is only ONE made, and it was a blast creating it!

If anyone has any questions please feel free to ask!

To order, it is the usual paypal address: slogun23@gmail.com

$20 per set, one-time $5.00 postage fee.

Thanks for looking!

Gio

 

NEGRO LEAGUE LEGENDS- SATCHEL PAIGE

Today’s “Negro league Legend” is none other than arguably the most well-known star and personality of them all,  pitching great Satchel Paige:

From his start as a 20-year old playing for the Birmingham Black Barons in 1927 to his final Major League appearance as a 59-year old for the Kansas City Athletics, Paige became an American icon not only for his on-field play but for his infectious personality.
Though his career Negro League record is listed as 100-50 over 18-seasons, he won countless other games along the way, as was the usual for the Negro Leagues as they played exhibition and non-league games during gaps in their schedule.
His stories are legend, enough so that by the time the Baseball Hall of Fame got off their ass and finally began electing Negro League all-time greats to Cooperstown, Paige was the very 1st to be so honored.
A 5x time Negro League all-star, 2x American League all-star, Negro League champ in 1942 with the Homestead Grays, and Major League World Champion with the 1948 Cleveland Indians, Paige left a baseball legacy that few could come close to.
If you haven’t already please do yourself a favor and read up on anything you can regarding the anecdotes on Paige, from BOTH his Negro league days through to his Major League tenure!
Honestly, if I were to go and write a full bio on the guy, it would end up being a BOOK! So forgive the relatively short write-up here.
Some guys are such legends there really isn’t much that needs to be said...

TURN BACK THE CLOCK: SATCHEL PAIGE PITCHES AT AGE 59!

Today we celebrate the “ageless one”, legendary Negro Leagues pitcher and future Hall of Fame member Satchel Paige and his unlikely pitching performance in 1965 at the age of 59 for the Kansas City Athletics:

Signed by Athletics team owner Charlie Finley for one game, Paige came in to pitch on September 25th against the Boston Red Sox, starting and eventually pitching three innings and surrendering a single hit while striking out one batter in his stint, thus closing the books on his sadly abbreviated Major League career, which BEGAN back in 1948 with the Cleveland Indians when Paige was already 41 years of age.
Because of baseball’s segregation, Paige made himself a legend beyond legends in the Negro Leagues, becoming one of the all-time greats on the mound, and off of it as well with his personality and pitching talents.
As a Major League pitcher spanning six seasons between 1948 and 1965 Paige would put together a 28-31 record with a nice 3.29 earned run average in 179 games, 26 of them starts, all this while in his 40’s!
Who knows what this icon could have done pitching in the Major Leagues, though he was STILL rightly honored with a place in Cooperstown, being voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971 and becoming the first true Negro Leagues star player to be so recognized.

HALL OF FAME #9: SATCHEL PAIGE: CLASS OF 1971

Here's a fun card, a "Hall of Fame" card for the next player inducted in 1971, Negro League legend Satchel Paige:

Paige was inducted into the Hall by special committee, the Negro League Committee, and was an obvious choice.

The stories of Paige in his prime are endless, and while most are embellished beyond any scope of reality, the man was an incredible pitcher that many Major League stars who opposed him during his prime went out of their way to say so.

On the Major League level, Paige made his debut in 1948 with Cleveland at the ripe old age of 41, going 6-1 with a 2.48 earned run average over 21 games, seven of which were starts.

The following season he went 4-7 with a 3.04 E.R.A., but ended up missing all of 1950 before coming back to pitch three more years with the St. Louis Browns, going a combined 18-23 with a couple of shutouts and 26 saves over 126 games, 13 of which were starts.

We're talking about a man who was 46 years old at the end of that run!

Move ahead twelve years, in 1965, and Paige took the mound at the age of 58 as a promotional stunt with the Kansas City A's, yet still managed to pitch three innings, giving up a sole hit with no walks, with a strikeout thrown in for good measure! Hilarious!

In those six truncated seasons in the Majors, Paige went a combined 28-31 with a 3.29 earned run average, 288 strikeouts and two shutouts over 179 games and 476 innings.

But it was his legendary status in the Negro Leagues that made him a baseball immortal within the halls of Cooperstown.