Leroy (Satchel) Paige, a masterful pitcher and baseball showman who once told his fans how to stay young with the advice, “Don’t look back, something might be gaining on you,” died Tuesday in Kansas City, Mo., after suffering a heart attack. He was believed to be 75.
Paige became the first black in the Hall of Fame when the 10-year requirement was lifted in 1971 for blacks who played in the Negro Leagues before 1947.
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Paige did not pitch in the major leagues until he was 42 because of baseball’s unwritten policy of not allowing blacks to play. In recent years, he had heart trouble and emphysema. He had experienced discomfort in his home after a Monday storm knocked out power there, preventing use of an air conditioner.
“I said, “Are you too warm?’/th” his wife, Lahoma Paige, told The Associated Press. When her husband said he was chilly, Mrs. Paige put her jacket around him. The Paiges’ daughter noticed he looked “lethargic” and began to fan him. Paramedics were summoned and, along with Mrs. Paige, tried to revive her husband with cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
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Alex George, Paige’s long-time friend, said he was dead on arrival at the hospital.
Paige made his last public appearance last Saturday when a baseball field in Kansas City was named for him. At the dedication, Paige, whose health had deteriorated lately, sat in a wheelchair.
“Nobody on earth could feel as good as I do now,” Paige said at the dedication. “I thought that there was nothing left for me to do. I appreciate this from the bottom of my heart.”
Paige had pitched for the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro League before Bill Veeck gave him his first chance in the major leagues with the Cleveland Indians in the 1940s.
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Commissioner Bowie Kuhn said in a prepared statement: “It’s too bad major league fans never had a chance to see him in his prime, for he was one of the greatest pitchers of all time. Some fine athletes are forgotten when they’re gone. Satch will never be.”
“This is a sad day in my estimation. He was such a unique individual, he was ageless,” said Kansas City mayor Richard Berkeley, who once saw Paige pitch for the Monarchs.
Said Cleveland Indian president Gabe Paul: “He was a great performer whose simple and effective philosophy of pitching was a model. He believed in making the batter hit the ball and not be too careful.
“Bases on balls was his biggest enemy. He once said, “Base on balls is the curse of the nation.’ Truer words were never spoken.” BIOG: NAME:
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