Satchel Paige Residence

Leroy Robert Paige not only was one of the best players to master the art of pitching but also left behind a long lasting legacy to the sport of baseball. Paige was born in Mobile, Alabama on July 7th, 1906, and was the seventh child of twelve. Paige began working at an early age as a porter and baggage carrier in the railway business. While working one afternoon he found a long stick that he was able to manipulate into a system of carrying more luggage at time. Watching him, his co-workers said that he looked like a walking satchel tree, that moment dawned him his popularly known nickname “Satchel”. Satchel made his professional pitching debut with the Birmingham Black Barons in 1927 as a twenty year old, forgoing traditional pitch names such as fastball and curveball, Paige would be the author of his own names such as, Wobbly-ball, Bat Dodger, and his favorite pitch best describing his accuracy and arm strength, Bee-Ball after batters reportedly saying that the ball had a humm to it when it flew by them similar to a bee.

 Paige was a barnstormer, often traveling around the country on different teams several times in his career yet there always was one location that he consistently came back to. Paige made his debut with the Kansas City Monarchs in 1935 playing 1 season before moving to the Pittsburgh Crawfords, than returning to the Monarchs for his longest run with a team in his career, playing with them for 7 years from 1940-47. Many believed that Paige would break the MLB’s color barrier before Jackie Robinson did in 1947, but during that season Paige had just turned 40 years old and teams were weary of his aged arm. During the 1948 season the Cleveland Indians, while in the hunt for a pennant looked for a pitcher to sure up their bulpen, Paige fits that need perfectly and as a 41 year old rookie pitcher went on to win 6 games and became the first African American to pitch in the major league world series. Paige went on to play 4 more major league seasons with Cleveland and the Saint Louis Browns and even pitched in minor league games after those seasons, and when called upon by the Kansas City A’s in 1965 to make an emergency pitching appearance at the age of 58, he threw 3 shutout innings.

 After his time in Cleveland, Paige returned to Kansas City. In 1950, he bought a beautiful home located at 2626 E 28th in Kansas City Missouri. Welcomed by a large brick patio laced with large white arches, the 3 story home built in 1910 is a gorgeous historical home. Paige lived there from 1950 to just before his death in 1982.

Following a fire that nearly destroyed the home on May 29th, 2018 the city eventually bought the property and pledged to restore the house to its historic beauty. The house is currently in the planning stage and has received a huge boost in funding for the project as the project received a grant from the National Trust For Historic Preservation. Paige’s home will be a long lasting symbol of the legacy he left for Baseball, African American history, and for Kansas City. 

Content Provided by

Jackson Myers, student at the University of Missouri Kansas City as part of Dr. Sandra Enriquez’s Urban History Class.