T

Historic
Connection

Hank Greenberg was a
favorite of black fans

even before Jackie
Robinson broke the

"color barr;er."

Two legends helped
to integrate baseball.

Satchell Paige in Detroit, 1953

Irwin Cohen

Special to the Jewish News

uly 7 marks the 100th
anniversary of the birth
of legendary Hall of
Fame baseball pitcher Satchel
Paige.
Leroy Paige was born in Mobile,
Ala., and as a teenager worked at
the railroad station. Leroy's long
arms were able to maneuver and
hold several satchels at a time and
folks started to call him by what
he carried.
He grew to a height of just over
6 feet, 3 inches. His size 12 feet
carried a weight of 180 pounds
and he could aim and fire a base-
ball better than anyone around.
Young Satchel's pitching feats
attracted many and everyone
knew he was good enough for the
Major League. But the color of
his skin restricted him to playing
ball only with and against blacks
in the old Negro leagues. Satchel
became a superstar and spent
decades honing his craft without
appearing in a Major League
game.

j

After playing in the
Negro leagues, Jackie
Robinson was signed by
the Brooklyn Dodgers
and became the first
black in the Major League
in 1947. Robinson's
first season was Hank
Greenberg's last.
The Tigers sold
Greenberg to Pittsburgh
and he was playing first
base for the Pirates when
Robinson made his first
appearance in the Steel
City. Greenberg heard his
new teammates — many
of whom never finished
high school — taunt
Robinson, a college grad-
uate (UCLA), with every racial
epithet they could think of.
Robinson singled and scam-
pered to first base. Greenberg
told him that he was a better
man and better ballplayer than
most in the league. Greenberg
offered to take Robinson to din-
ner that night. Robinson politely
declined. "It would put you on
the spot," Robinson said. "I don't
want to do that to you."
That first conversation led to
a long friendship and many din-
ners.
Greenberg became an execu-
tive and part owner of Bill
Veeck's Cleveland Indians the
following year when the club
signed 42-year-old Satchel Paige.
The Indians — who already had
Larry Doby — were the only
American League team with
black players.
Greenberg became director
of minor league operations for
the Indians in 1949, and signed
several black players for the
organization. The following year,
Bill Veeck sold his interest in the
Indians and Greenberg became

general manager with a
larger slice of ownership.
Greenberg soon had four
black players on the Major
League roster while most
clubs in the league (includ-
ing the Tigers) had none.
Even though it took
longer than he wanted,
Greenberg eventually
instituted a policy that all
players on the Cleveland
club would stay in the same
hotel on the road. If the
hotel didn't allow blacks,
Greenberg ordered his traveling
secretary, Spud Goldstein, to not
allow white players to check in.
I was lucky enough to meet
Paige and Greenberg and hear
their stories. I saw Paige pitch in
my pre-bar mitzvah days in 1953.
He was 47 and a member of Bill
Veeck's St. Louis Browns (they
would relocate and become the
Baltimore Orioles the following
year).
It was a September night game
and the Tigers and Browns were
battling to stay out of last place.
An 18-year-old infielder from
Windsor, Reno Bertoia, was mak-
ing his big league debut against
the old legend. Satch gave Bertoia
the big arm pumping windmill
windup and fired three times.
Bertoia swung and missed three
times in front of a large con-
tingent of cheering family and
friends from the Canadian side
of the river. The scene plays over
and over in the television of my
mind every few days.
Twenty-six years later, as edi-
tor and publisher of a national
monthly baseball publication, I
attended baseball's annual winter
meetings. The get-together of
executives, managers reporters
and others also had on its agenda
Hall of Fame acceptance for

deserving stars of the old Negro
leagues.
On hand that first week in
December in Orlando were stars
of the Negro leagues who went
on to long careers in the majors
thanks to Jackie Robinson, who
died a couple of years earlier.
Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks,
Larry Doby, Monte Irvin were
gathered around and in front of
the seated figure of Satchel Paige.
The latter's long legs dangled
straight out from the cushioned
lobby chair while he told stories
at a slow, easy pace.
Laughter kept interrupting the
73-year-old Paige as he kept the
same position in his chair and
the same expression on his face.
I soaked up the scene and
was determined to find out
more about the man they called
Satchel. Many thought the slow-
moving legend was a Stepin
Fetchit character (the slim, slow-
moving, slow-witted black ste-
reotype character played by actor
Mantan Moreland in numerous
movies in the 1930s and 1940s).
Paige once told a reporter who
asked why he preferred the com-
pany of younger women to those
his own age, "It's mind over mat-
ter," the star pitcher said. "If they
don't mind, it don't matter:'
Paige had a smart mind and

handled matters well. He was
quite a businessman and put
together numerous exhibition
games around the country, pit-
ting Negro leaguers against stars
of the Major League. Paige loved
to show off his talents by having
his players behind him lay down
on the field and take a nap while
he struck out a batter.
Paige flew his own plane to
many of the sites. After all, he
was a busy man with several
ladies to keep happy. One of his
other hobbies was photography
and he did his own developing in
a well-equipped dark room. His
hands were as adept at mixing
chemicals as mixing pitches on
the mound.
So drink a EChayini to the
memory of Satchel Paige and
don't forget Hank Greenberg's
part in helping to integrate Major
League Baseball. '11

Irwin Cohen of Oak Park published
the national Baseball Bulletin from
1975-80, and was a front office
associate of the Detroit Tigers for
nine years, earning a World Series
ring in 1984. He has authored
several books on Detroit and the
Jewish community.

July 6 * 2006

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