Satchel Paige was forty-two years old in 1948 when he became the first black pitcher in the American League. Although the oldest rookie around, he was already a legend. For twenty-two years, beginning in 1926, Paige dazzled throngs with his performance in the Negro Baseball Leagues. Then he outlasted everyone by playing professional baseball, in and out of the majors, until 1965. Struggle—against early poverty and racial discrimination—was part of Paige's story. So was fast living and a humorous point of view. His immortal advice was "Don't look back. Something might be gaining on you."

Satchel Paige was forty-two years old in 1948 when he became the first black pitcher in the American League. Although the oldest rookie around, he was already a legend. For twenty-two years, beginning in 1926, Paige dazzled throngs with his performance in the Negro Baseball Leagues. Then he outlasted everyone by playingaprofessional baseball, in and out of the majors, until 1965. StruggleOCoagainst early poverty and racial discriminationOCowas part of Paige's story. So was fast living and a humorous point of view. His immortal advice was Don't look back. Something might be gaining on you."

"It might have been" different if Satchel Paige were White? If Satchel Paige had not existed in real life, then some writer would have had to create him. The baseball world is truly fortunate that LeRoy Robert "Satchel" Paige did exist. This book is his story, in his words, as told to David Lipman. Paige was an American baseball player. He pitched in the American Negro Leagues as early as 1926. For 22 years he was widely believed to be the world's best pitcher. He probably was, but he was Black and that made all the difference. It was not until 1948 on his 42nd birthday that he signed with the Cleveland Indians, he became the oldest rookie in baseball history. He pitched for three Major League clubs in six different years. They were the Cleveland Indians in 1948 and 1949 and The St Louis Browns in from 1951 to 1953. With the Kansas City Royals in 1965, he started his last major leagues game at age 59. He pitched only in the minor leagues three years and exhibition games after that.

Some say Satchel Paige was the greatest pitcher ever—and and certainly his dazzling record of perhaps as many as 2,000 wins, first in the Negro Leagues and then in the integrated major leagues, ranks as one of the most remarkable athletic feats of the century. He also became famous for the advice he freely offered others, including the now legendary "Don't look back, something might be gaining on you." Mark Ribowsky gives the best picture yet of life in the Negro Leagues as he brings to life a man whose act as a lovable eccentric with a golden arm masked a decidedly darker side as womanizer, hard drinker, and contract jumper always on the lookout for number one.

The first autobiography by Leroy “Satchel” Paige, one of the best and most colorful pitchers in the history of professional baseball. Based on interviews conducted by Cleveland sports writer Hal Lebovitz, this book was first released shortly after Paige joined the Indians in 1948 (days after his 42nd birthday and after 22 years playing with various Negro League, minor league and Puerto Rican League teams). Told in a casual first-person style, Paige's stories provide a snapshot from a bygone era of Major League baseball. Paige tells how he began his pitching career by throwing rocks (”We had a pretty rough gang down on the South Side of Mobile, near the Bay, where I was born and raised”). He describes his early years in baseball, starting at age 17 with the Chattanooga Black Lookouts in 1926, and addresses the controversy over varying claims about his age and the source of his nickname. He talks about ballplayers he had known, in particular Josh Gibson (”the best of all”) of the Pittsburgh Crawfords and Homestead Grays, and Bob Feller (with whom Paige barnstormed years before joining the Indians). Includes a foreword by Indians owner Bill Veeck and a note from Indians player-manager Lou Boudreau. With Paige's help, the Indians went on to win the 1948 World Series.

"How Satchel Paige spent one season playing for the dictator Rafael Trujillo's team in the Dominican Republic"--

Selected as one of baseball literature's Golden Dozen by Roger Kahn, Man on Spikes is an uncompromisingly realistic novel about a baseball player who struggles through sixteen years of personal crises and professional ordeals before finally appearing in a major league game. In a preface to this new edition, Eliot Asinof reveals the longsuffering ballplayer and friend upon which the novel is based.