Satchel Paige

Leroy Robert “Satchel” Paige was born in Mobile, Alabama in 1906. Paige loved baseball as a child, and though he was confined to a state reform school for five years as a teen after being arrested for shoplifting, he was able to refine his pitching skills there. Paige began pitching for the Negro Leagues, becoming one of the leagues’ most successful players. After Major League Baseball became integrated in 1947, Paige became the oldest rookie to play in the MLB at age 42. Paige played for the Cleveland Indians, St. Louis Browns, and Kansas City Athletics, retiring in 1965.