For the 1953 St. Louis Browns, a downtrodden group accustomed to having the odds stacked against them, the numbers 14 and 18 added up to one in a million as they arrived in New York to play the Yankees.
Fourteen was the number of consecutive losses the Browns had suffered. Eighteen was how many the Yankees had won in a row. Recalling the team’s mindset entering the four-game series at home with the Browns, Mickey Mantle told “Voices From Cooperstown” author Anthony J. Connor, “We figured there’s at least four more wins.”
What the Yankees didn’t factor, though, was another number: 47. The oldest player in the majors, Browns pitcher Satchel Paige, turned 47 in 1953. At least that was his listed age. As the St. Louis Post-Dispatch suggested, Paige “is believed to be older than the American League,” which was formed in 1901.
Paige’s favorite number was zero. Those were the number of runs he allowed in securing the victory that ended the Browns’ skid and snapped the Yankees’ winning streak.
Together again
The story of Leroy “Satchel” Paige’s stint with St. Louis begins in July 1951. That was when Bill Veeck bought the Browns from Bill DeWitt Sr. and his brother, Charlie. A few days after Veeck closed the deal, he watched a dreary doubleheader in which Browns pitchers issued 15 walks to Philadelphia Athletics batters, losing both games. Boxscore and Boxscore
That’s when Veeck reached out to Paige, who was pitching for the Chicago American Giants of the Negro American League, and brought him back to the majors. “One thing about Satch is that he can get the ball over (the plate),” Veeck told the Post-Dispatch.
As owner of the Cleveland Indians, Veeck gave Paige his first shot at the big leagues, signing him in July 1948. Paige rewarded him, posting a 6-1 record and helping the Indians become World Series champions that year. After the following season, in 1949, Veeck sold the club and Paige was released by the new regime.
Senior league
Paige began pitching in baseball’s Negro League in 1927. He signed with the Browns on July 14, 1951, a week after he turned 45. Many suspected he was older than that. Even Veeck told the Post-Dispatch, “He’s at least 51.”
Trying to unravel the mystery of how ancient Paige was became baseball’s top parlor game.
After attempting to determine Paige’s true age, columnist Henry McLemore of the McNaught Syndicate informed readers, “I have come to the conclusion that Satchel was 10th off the Ark, and that while the waters were receding he practiced his curveballs.”
Noting that Paige is “the only baseball player in the world whose birthdays run backward instead of forward,” the Post-Dispatch concluded, “While Satch may be 50, his arm is only 25.”
After joining the 1951 Browns, Paige was invited to attend a gathering of 700 scientists that summer at the International Gerontological Congress at the Hotel Jefferson in St. Louis. Paige was a guest of the group’s president, Dr. E.V. Cowdry, professor of anatomy at Washington University school of medicine.
The “purpose of the congress is the discussion of aging, a subject close to Satch’s heart,” the Post-Dispatch reported. “Satch told the scientists he is still going strong because he works every day in the summer, hunts every day in the winter, eats lots of seafood, shuns beer, whiskey, chicken livers and lamb, and likes to sleep.” He added, “When I smoke, I don’t inhale _ just blow it out my nose.”
Mound magician
After making two starts for the 1951 Browns, Paige was moved to the bullpen, a role that better suited a pitcher of his advanced years. In 20 relief appearances, he totaled three wins and six saves using what the New York Times described as “an amazing assortment of trick deliveries” that included a hesitation pitch. According to the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, the pitch got that name because when Paige threw it he went into a “big windup, stepped forward and stooped his body, but his arm continued in a wide arc” before he flipped the ball across the plate. “Damndest changeup pitch I ever saw,” Joe DiMaggio told the Times.
In a game against the Red Sox at Fenway Park, Paige got an 0-and-2 count on Ted Williams. On the next delivery, Paige went into a leisurely windup, and Williams moved forward in the batter’s box, expecting the hesitation pitch or something similar. Instead, Paige zipped a fastball, startling Williams, who swung late and missed for strike three.
Irate, Williams stomped to the dugout and “smashed his bat into pieces,” the Boston Globe reported. “He first whacked it against the railing of the runway leading to the dressing room. When that didn’t suffice, Williams flung the bat toward the rack. He still wasn’t satisfied, so he smashed it on the floor.”
During Ted’s tantrum, Paige was laughing on the mound, according to the Globe. He told the newspaper, “I’ve never seen anything like it in the big leagues. He was sore because I crossed him up.” Boxscore
For his career, Williams batted .222 (2 for 9) versus Paige. Both hits were singles. That was better than Joe DiMaggio did. The Yankee Clipper went hitless (with three strikeouts) in eight at-bats against Paige.
[In his induction speech at the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1966, Williams said, “I hope Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson somehow will be inducted here as symbols of the great Negro (League) players who are not here because they were not given a chance.”]
Winners and losers
In 1952, Paige had 12 wins, 10 saves and a 3.07 ERA for the Browns. His last season with them was 1953.
The 1953 Browns lost nine in a row in May. Then came the 14-game skid in June. All 14 losses came at home. The Browns took a 19-38 record into the June 16 series opener against the Yankees at New York. Winners of 18 in a row, the Yankees were 41-11. Furthermore, their starting pitcher for the first game was Whitey Ford, who, in two seasons with them, was 16-0 as a starter.
A former Yankee, Duane Pillette, was matched against Ford that night. Pillette’s ERA for the season was 5.73.
What should have been a mismatch turned out to be a competitive contest. The Browns scored three runs against Ford, who was lifted after five innings. Pillette limited the Yankees to one run through seven.
In the eighth, after Billy Martin singled with one out, Pillette went to a 2-and-0 count on Joe Collins. Browns manager Marty Marion opted to lift Pillette for Paige.
(Perhaps looking to change the Browns’ luck, Marion, the former Cardinals shortstop, put himself in the starting lineup that night for the only time in 1953. Furthermore, he played third base for the first time in his career.)
Paige ambled from the bullpen to the mound. It took him about 10 minutes to stroll out there, according to the New York Daily News. As the Globe-Democrat noted, “His pants cuff was dragging but there was nothing wrong with the elastic in his arm.”
His first pitch to Collins was out of the strike zone, making the count 3-and-0. Then he retired him on a soft fly. After falling behind 3-and-0 to Irv Noren, Paige got him to pop out to the catcher.
With the Browns still holding a 3-1 lead, Mickey Mantle led off the bottom of the ninth against Paige. With two strikes, Mantle decided to try for a bunt single. In the book “Voices From Cooperstown,” Mantle said a bunt made sense to him because Paige “couldn’t hardly get off the mound.”
“I knew that if I could poke it past him I could beat him to first base,” Mantle said to the New York Times.
Instead, Mantle fouled the ball back to the screen on the bunt attempt, striking out. (More than a decade later, according to the Times, Mantle’s decision to bunt still rankled Whitey Ford. “That was a really stupid play,” Ford told Mantle. “I was so mad at you.” Mantle replied, “I still say it’s not necessarily such a bad play.”)
Paige retired Yogi Berra for the second out, but Gene Woodling singled, bringing Gil McDougald to the plate. Paige fell behind in the count, then got McDougald to pop up in foul territory, but catcher Les Moss dropped the ball.
McDougald fouled off two more pitches. As the Globe-Democrat noted, Paige “got the last bit of good theatre and ham out of the situation.”
With the count 3-and-2, McDougald popped up again _ this time in fair territory, near the mound. Marty Marion, who hadn’t made a play all night, rushed over from his spot near third base and caught the ball for the final out.
In the jubilant clubhouse, Satchel Paige said to the Associated Press, “Man, there’s no team I like to beat better than them Yankees.” Boxscore
RetroSimba 
I enjoyed this a lot, always like to learn more about the legend Satchel Paige. I got a kick out of the biblical reference – “…..Satchel was 10th off the Ark, and that while the waters were receding he practiced his curveballs.”
Isn’t there some story about Paige motioning to his defense to all sit down because he was gonna strike out the side and then he did?
Glad you enjoyed this, Steve. I enjoyed researching it, too.
In answer to your question, asked by David Condon of the Chicago Tribune in 1965 how many times did he bring in the outfielders to sit while he pitched during exhibitions or barnstorming games, Paige said, “Maybe four, five times. Always with two out, always against a right-handed hitter. A game in Montana, though, I called in everyone except the first baseman and got the batter.”
On July 4, 1941, the Kansas City Monarchs and Chicago American Giants played a special holiday Negro League game at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis.
Paige was the gate attraction and he refused to play unless seating that day was unrestricted for all customers rather than the usual segregated seating St. Louis still mandated. Unwilling to risk playing without Paige, officials gave in to his demand.
An interracial crowd of 19,178 came to see Paige and the Monarchs win, 11-2.
In its game report, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch declared the crowd was “the largest ever to witness a Negro baseball game in St. Louis.”
Paige pitched four entertaining innings. In the third, he “waved in his outfielders and gave the next batter his old trouble ball,” the Post-Dispatch reported. “His trouble ball is a hard fast one, usually thrown at the handle of the bat, because Satchel says no living human can hit such a ball with the handle.”
Paige struck out the batter.
“The record crowd enjoyed every minute that the master showman worked,” the St. Louis Star-Times reported.
That’s beyond awesome! Thanks for confirming Paige waved in his outfielders. What a gift for us baseball fans. There are many years I would like to return to if time machines existed and Paige’s years would be on the top of my list.
There is so much one could say about Satchel Paige that you really don’t know where to begin. As well as questions. “Is it true that Satchel did this”? “Is it true that Satchel did that”? About the only thing I will say is that we will forever wonder what career Satchel Paige would have had in MLB if not for the racial discrimination that existed. And reading the testimonies of players like Dizzy Dean, Bob Feller, Joe Dimaggio and Ted Williams make you think that he would have had an incredible career. In looking over some boxscores, I noticed that on June 3 1952 in a 17 inning marathon against the Washington Senators, Satchel Paige, besides being the winning pitcher, went 3 for 3 at the plate. His third hit which came in the 17th inning also ended up scoring the winning run.
I like how you expressed your thoughts and I agree, Phillip.
Thanks for the mention of the 17-inning game at Washington won by Satchel Paige with his pitching and hitting. Those three hits were his first of the 1952 season and one more than he had in 1951. Paige worked out of bases-loaded jams in the 13th and 14 innings.
I enjoyed looking up the newspaper reports of that game:
Jack Rice’s lede in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat: “That Babe Ruth of the bullpen, Satchel Paige, had the most fun of his ancient and honorable career when he pitched and batted the Browns to a 3-2 victory over the Senators in 17 innings this morning.”
Neal Russo’s lede in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “They say a man Satchel Paige’s age shouldn’t keep late hours, but there he was, swinging a bat 20 minutes past midnight.”
The Post-Dispatch reported that on the morning after the game Bill Veeck called traveling secretary Bill Durney in Washington and told him to have Paige buy a new suit at club expense as a reward for his hitting. https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1952/B06030WS11952.htm
Man, I’ve been obsessed with Satchel for years, and I’m not even sure quite why, as I’ve never seen him play. If you haven’t read it yet, Mark, I’d highly recommend Satchel: The Life and Time of an American Legend by Larry Tye. It’s not your typical boring sports book, so great I’ve read it twice, owned multiple copies, and refer to it often.
He also has an autobiography that I’m interested in called Pitchin’ Man. Unfortunately, I could NEVER find a damn copy.
Thanks for the book recommendations, Gary.
I did some digging in the archives and found an item that might interest you: Satchel Paige pitched in Sacramento in 1943 in a barnstorming exhibition.
According to the Sacramento Bee, the Satchel Paige All-Stars (an all-black team) were scheduled to play the McClellan Field Commanders, an Army base team composed of several big-leaguers in military service, on Saturday night Nov. 20, 1943, at Cardinal Field. The game was rained out. It got played instead on Nov. 23, 1943, a Tuesday night. The Bee reported the game drew 1,500 spectators to Cardinal Field; the Associated Press reported the crowd as 2,500.
In the hype leading up to the game, it was reported that Paige would pitch five innings. Instead, he pitched three, leaving with the score tied at 1-1. He gave up two hits and struck out one. According to the Associated Press, some of the Sacramento fans “roared their disapproval at Paige” for not pitching longer. The McClellan Field team won the nine-inning game, 3-1.
Two decades later, in 1961, Paige was back in Sacramento to perform an act at halftime of a basketball game between the Fabulous Harlem All-Stars (featuring Goose Tatum and Sweetwater Clifton) and the Famous New York Rens at Sacramento Memorial Auditorium. Paige came to town early to help drum up publicity and was taken to Posey’s restaurant by the Bee sports columnist.
Would have loved to have seen him pitch. Took so long for him to get his chance. And, when he did, who cares that he was 40 or 50, he was going to take advantage of it. Of course, nothing warms my heart more than beating the Yankees. Thanks for this great story.
We may not have gotten to see Satchel Paige pitch, but we can see him act. Satchel was cast as Sgt. Tobe Sutton in the 1959 western “The Wonderful Country,” starring Robert Mitchum and Julie London. (One reviewer noted Mitchum and London created “thunderbolts” in the romance scenes.) On Nov. 19, 1959, the Montclair Times reported that “The Wonderful Country” opened the day before at the Loew’s Theatre in Newark as a double feature with “The Great St. Louis bank Robbery.” According to syndicated columnist Hy Gardner, “United Artists thought Satchel was a natural” as an actor. Paige said of acting, “I like it. You get to sit down a lot _ and the pay is real good.”
Can’t tell you how much I enjoyed reading this. One of your best.
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Much appreciated. Thank you!