Satchel Paige: the book

April 26th, 2009 by Larry Tye

So three years after I started the research, and nearly a year after I finished the writing, my book on Satchel Paige finally is about to be released.  Random House’s official publication date is June 9.

I am new to blogging and not sure what anyone visiting this site wants to hear. I will take my cues from you.

Want to know about the process — what it is like researching a book like this, writing it, selling it to a publisher, or going through the endless editing?

Want to know some of the things I found, and some of the people who helped me along the way, from Negro Leaguers to Major Leaguers, SABR folks to other baseball researchers, friends/family of Satchel, and…. ?

Or maybe you’d rather offer up your own takes on Leroy “Satchel” Paige and let my book speak for me.

Once it comes out I will write occasionally about things I am finding as I speak across the country, and things I might have put in the book had I known them earlier. I would love to hear from you on places I should be going and talks I should be giving that my publisher and I didn’t think of. I have endless energy to talk about Satchel, because I remain fascinated by him and the lens he offers into the Negro Leagues, the Jim Crow era, and America itself.

I recently started researching a new book for Random House — a bio of Superman. More about that later.

Bye for now.

Larry

Posted in Satchel Paige's story

One Response

  1. R. Joseph Rodriguez

    Good morning, Larry Tye.

    I just read the online chapter excerpt posted by Random House. You have done a just examination and review of Paige’s life and thought. Your narrative has layers upon layers of research and comes together in a story that matters to a biography and sustains Paige’s achievements.

    In 1989, I remember reading in my ninth-grade reader a poem titled “To Satch,” which led me to read more about Leroy Paige. That’s still one of my favorite poems. I look forward to reading your biography in its entirety later this month.

    Thank you for capturing Paige’s baseball achievements and music with words. Yours is already a home run for baseball fans and readers.

    Cheers!
    R. Joseph Rodriguez