Getting to Know Satchel Paige

I am jealous of those of you who got to meet Satchel Paige. I’d have given anything to do the same.

All the same, I feel like I got to know Satchel like I might have an old uncle I’d never met but heard so much about, or even a grandfather, by spending two years absorbed in his newspaper clippings and stats, talking to his friends, family and teammates, several of whom had never had a chance to tell their stories, retracing his steps through Mobile, Kansas City, Puerto Rico and beyond, and learning about his exploits over 40 years of baseball and three-quarters of a century living an amazingly full life.