http://www.larrytye.com A blog about Larry's new book "Satchel" as well as his other books. Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:57:36 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Satchel Paige was pitching in the Negro Leagues in California when he got the news he had been anticipating for two decades. Brooklyn Dodgers President Branch Rickey had just signed a Negro to a big-league contract. The first Negro in modern times. Word tore through America’s clubhouses and grandstands that ... http://www.larrytye.com/2010/03/11/before-jackie-how-strikeout-king-satchel-paige-struck-down-jim-crow/ Gus Greenlee, owner of the Pittsburgh Crawfords and a notorious racketeer, sought rectitude on a baseball diamond. He had played ball growing up in the South, and in Pittsburgh he had heard about the ragtag collection of black and white teenagers gathering under the banner of the Crawfords, a name ... http://www.larrytye.com/2010/02/28/1930s-pittsburgh-josh-gibson-and-satchel-paige/ Baseball inspires poetry, as true fans of both well know. Jack Buck showed us that. So did Ogden Nash, Garrison Keillor and Grantland Rice. Now comes E. Ethelbert Miller with The Fifth Inning. A poet, essayist, memoirist and literary activist, Miller reflects, as he nears 60, on life, relationships and loss ... http://www.larrytye.com/2010/02/15/a-poet-and-baseball-e-ethelbert-miller%e2%80%99s-%e2%80%9cthe-fifth-inning%e2%80%9d/ When I give talks and interviews, the questions I'm asked most often is, "Should we believe stats for Satchel Paige's days in the Negro Leagues? Could he, for instance, really have pitched in 2,500 games and won 2,000?" Let's do the math: he played for more 40 years, pitching two or ... http://www.larrytye.com/2010/02/03/a-punishing-schedule/ One of my favorite things about writing books is getting to spread the story about Satchel Paige face to face to live audiences. This past week I did two talks that spanned the age spectrum. The first was the Society of American Baseball Researchers (SABR) winter event, where I appeared with ... http://www.larrytye.com/2010/01/23/the-real-world/ To write a biography of Satchel Paige, whose career lasted longer than any player before or since, eyewitness accounts were critical. I talked with 200 former Negro Leaguers and Major Leaguers who played with or against Satchel. One of the most extraordinary was Silas Simmons, a veteran of the early ... http://www.larrytye.com/2010/01/16/a-tribute-to-silas-simmons-b-1895-d-2006-everlasting-fan-of-the-game/ Feller, The Heater from Van Meter, was Iowa’s favorite son then and always. He was the real-life Roy Hobbs, the farm boy baseball prodigy played by Robert Redford in The Natural. Feller’s dream was to be the most overpowering pitcher the Majors had ever produced, and he ... http://www.larrytye.com/2010/01/03/bob-feller-and-satchel-paige/ He was not a welcome ally to many in America’s Civil Rights movement of the early 1900s, but none could deny the attention-getting power of Lester Rodney, the hot-blooded young sports editor of the paper published by the Communist Party USA. The Daily Worker had always had in its crosshairs that ... http://www.larrytye.com/2009/12/29/a-tribute-to-lester-rodney-1911-2009-advocate-for-ending-segregation-of-baseball/ How fast was James "Cool Papa" Bell? Fast enough to score from first on a sacrifice bunt. Fast enough to steal two bases on a single pitch. And, as Satchel Paige told the story over the years, fast enough to switch off the light and make it into bed before ... http://www.larrytye.com/2009/12/20/a-tribute-james-cool-papa-bell-1903-1991/ 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 ... http://www.larrytye.com/2009/12/01/getting-to-know-satchel-paige/