On this date. . .

Posted on 25. Sep, 2012 by Glow Images in Interesting News

On September 25, 1965, the legendary Satchel Paige became the oldest player to ever pitch in a Major League Baseball game, at age 59. In an outing for the Kansas City Athletics, Paige faced the Boston Red Sox, tossing 3 inning of scoreless, 1-hit baseball.

While most of us will be lucky to be able to throw a baseball at that age, Satchel Paige was still baffling major leaguers, with the only hit allowed coming from future Hall of Famer, Carl Yastrzemski. (Check out the box score! You know you want to.)

Other things everyone should know about Satchel Paige:

His career spanned nearly 40 years
He is arguably the best pitcher of his era
Paige became the oldest MLB rookie and first African-American to pitch in 1948 , at age 42
He was known to call in the outfield sometimes at the start of an inning with the promise of striking out the side
From Cuba to Canada and everything in between, he played everywhere
Paige had a slew of pitches in his arsenal, but most were fastball variations which he gave names like “Bat Dodger” or “Midnight Rider”
He was once served divorce papers while walking onto Wrigley Field
Joe DiMaggio said Paige was the best he ever faced, while Dizzy Dean said Paige’s fastball made his look like a changeup
Paige appeared in the western, The Wonderful Country, alongside Robert Mitchum