The 90th version of the NBC World Series wraps up this weekend.
And organizers have made a point during the tournament to pay tribute to the player who helped ensure its success: Leroy "Satchel" Paige.
He was the star of the first NBC in 1935, leading Bismark, North Dakota, to the championship. An estimated 10,000 fans flocked to Lawrence Stadium to watch Paige pitch in the championship game.
His electric performance made the tournament an instant success, both locally and nationally, and helped it become one of the country's oldest continuous sporting events.
Members of Paige's family were in town last week to promote the tournament. That included his grandson, 50-year-old Michael O'Neal of Kansas City, Missouri.
He talked with the Range about why Jackie Robinson, not his grandfather, broke baseball's color barrier; Paige's love of fishing, and the pitch he threw that was banned by baseball.
The interview was edited for length and clarity.
Michael O'Neal: All of his pitches had names. … It was Bee ball, which was the number one fastball, supposedly a 105-mile-an-hour shot. Trouble ball was his breaker. Night Train was a slider. … But then that hesitation pitch, which was outlawed, that was the one that Casey Stengel had a fit about it when he struck (Joe) DiMaggio out in the interleague game twice. And two days later, the pitch got banned.
Tom Shine: Can you talk about Major League Baseball's recent decision to officially recognize Negro League stats? What does that mean for your grandfather's legacy?
I think it means a lot. It's time he gets credit for wins and for the effort he put in, in those years when they blatantly just ignored stats. Not just him, but other Negro League players, too.
Satchel was also a teammate of Jackie Robinson's in Kansas City. … And many people … thought that your grandfather would be the first person to break baseball's color barrier, and not Robinson.
From what I have gathered, they picked Jackie because A, he was younger. And B, they needed … to find a player that will be able to put up with the hazing and the abuse (of) being the first black player in MLB (Major League Baseball). My grandfather wasn't the type of guy who's gonna take that. I mean, he was a competitor. … He's a nice guy, but on the field … he had his game face on.
Tell me something about him that people might be surprised to know.
He has a great family man. If he wasn't fishing or hunting, he was at home with my grandmother and our family.
He loved to have all of his children, all of his grandchildren, his babies. He wanted them all around him.
Can you tell me … any of your favorite stories … that your grandfather used to tell you?
When I was a kid out in Kansas City, you know kindergarten, we only went to school half a day. And my grandparents … would pick us up from school, and I'd be so happy to see him because I know we're going fishing. It'd be rods and reels and poles in the car and bait and everything. We'd just find a lake. It could be around the Kansas City area. We might drive a little bit: Hillsdale Lake or Lake of the Ozarks.
I will say there's not a lake in Kansas or Missouri he probably hadn't fished in at least once, even down here in Wichita.
Your grandfather was ahead of his time in that he understood that baseball was entertainment, and that he was an entertainer to a degree, and was very good at that.
There was a time they said he made $100,000 in the 1940s. But he knew how to sell himself … "Satchel Paige's coming to town," and the place will be sold out, and he would show up … like the middle of the sixth inning or at the end of the game to do a save. He was a showman. He'd do funny things out there: smile, laugh, giggle and just annoy the haters, which people love so much.
I've read somewhere where you used to have entertainers over (to Paige's house).
My grandfather was in the Green Book. It was the old road manual for Black people who was traveling on the roads and they tell you the local celebrities and where they stayed.
I remember my mom says a story: She heard the piano playing. My grandfather bought my grandmother a Steinway piano because she played piano in church. And (my mom) thought she was practicing, and she comes downstairs and there's a man sitting there playing the piano. And my mother said, "Mama, who's that?" "Did you say good morning to Mr. Basie?" And then it'd be Dizzy Gillespie down there on his trumpet blowing, practicing his horn because they were performing down on 18th and Vine. Cab Calloway, I think, was a regular guest.
He just had some type of … personality that seemed to attract people didn't he?
Well, he had an outgoing, approachable personality. He always had a big smile on his face. He's … always approachable. He's affable. He was just just a friendly guy, just a friendly man. And he knew fans … they made him who he was. So, he was like returning the thank yous for making my life better.
A lot of people … say that your grandfather was the greatest pitcher who ever lived black or white. What do you say to that?
All true. I mean, (Joe) DiMaggio said it. Nolan Ryan said it. Roger Clemens said it. I think even Sandy Koufax said it. So, they all said he's the best pitcher they'd ever seen. Dizzy Dean said … he's the best one he's ever had the honor of sharing a baseball field with.
And so if those great ones, those immortals, said they all agree, yeah, that's gospel.
