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Some say Leroy Paige was born with his right fist curled around a baseball. By the age of ten he could outthrow anyone, small or grown. When he wasn't toting baggage at the depot (that's how he earned money and the nickname "Satchel"), he was pitching. His coach at school told him, "You concentrate on baseball, and you might make something of yourself".And that he did. Satchel Paige developed his own pitches (he even named them!) and a unique pitching style, complete with a grin he flashed as he released the ball. Fans packed the stands to see how many batters he could strike out in one game. They loved his confidence, his fast-talking, and the way he followed his own rules.After just one year in the semipros Satch was playing in the Negro major leagues. He went on to become the first African American to pitch in a major league World Series, and the first black to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. By the time he died in 1982, he had enjoyed one of the longest and brightest careers in baseball history.Lesa Cline-Ransome's spirited, folksy narrative and James Ransome's boldly colored, exciting paintings capture the challenges, rewards and, most of all, the unique brand of showmanship in the life of the tall, lean legend named Satchel Paige.
About the author
Lesa Cline-Ransome is the author of numerous nonfiction and historical fiction titles for picture book, chapter book, middle grade, and young adult readers. Her
One Big Open Sky was both a Coretta Scott King Honor book and a Newbery Honor book. Her picture books include
Fighting with Love: The Legacy of John Lewis,
Game Changers: The Story of Venus and Serena Williams, and
The Power of Her Pen: The Story of Groundbreaking Journalist Ethel L. Payne. Her verse biography of Harriet Tubman,
Before She Was Harriet, was nominated for an NAACP Image Award and received a Jane Addams Children’s Book Honor, Christopher Award, and Coretta Scott King Honor for Illustration. Her debut middle grade novel,
Finding Langston, won the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction and received the Coretta Scott King Award Author Honor. She lives in the Hudson Valley region of New York with her husband and frequent collaborator, James Ransome, and their family. Visit her at LesaClineRansome.com.
Summary
Play ball with Satchel Paige with this nonfiction picture book biography from two Coretta Scott King Award–winning creators.
No one pitched like Leroy “Satchel” Paige. Fans packed the stands to see how many batters he could strike out in one game. He dazzled them with his unique pitching style, and he even gave nicknames to some of his trademark pitches—there was the “hesitation,” his magic slow ball, and the “bee ball,” named because it would always “be” where he wanted it to be.
Follow Satch’s career through these beautiful illustrations as he begins playing in the semi-pros and goes on to become the first African American to pitch in a major League World Series, and the first Negro Leaguer to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
