Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend
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Product Description
He is that rare American icon who has never been captured in a biography worthy of him. Now, at last, here is the superbly researched, spellbindingly told tale of athlete, showman, philosopher, and boundary breaker Leroy “Satchel” Paige.
Through persistent research and wide interviews, award-winning leader and journalist Larry Tye has tracked down the truth about this majestic and enigmatic pitcher. Here is the stirring account of the child born to a poor Alabama washerwoman, the boy who earned his nickname from his enterprising work as a railroad porter, and the young man who took up baseball on the streets and in reform school before apt the superstar hurler of the Negro Leagues.
In unprecedented detail, Tye reveals how Paige, hurt and mad when Jackie Robinson beat him in breaking the Majors’ color barrier, emerged at the improbable age of forty-two to help force the Cleveland Indians to the World Series. (“Age is a case of mind over matter,” he said. “If you don’t mind, it don’t matter.”)
Rewriting our history of baseball’s integration with Paige in the starring role and separating truth from legend, Satchel is a tale as large as this larger-than-life man.
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There is something missing in this book: a excellent storyline. I wanted to like Satchel the man and Satchel the book and finished up not liking either. There are some appealing passages about the Negro Leagues. The first hand accounts of black ballplayers impressions/feelings on Jackie Robinson cracking the white majors are appealing and enlightening. But unless I missed something the only storyline for Satchel is: gifted athlethe born in the incorrect era. So, am I suppose to feel sorry for Satchel? Am I supposed to feel regret? Anquish? Am I suppose to agonize over the racism of my parents and grandparents who were a part of a society that enabled Jim Crow laws? The only tale here is – sorry dude, you were born and peaked at the incorrect time. Not my fault – not anyone’s fault – a history fault. That’s the way it was and you didn’t do much to change things. There is nothing much in Satchel the man or Satchel the book.
Wait a minute!! Maybe I didn’t miss anything – Larry Nye threw a fastball under the chin: the tale is – gifted man, incorrect place, incorrect time. Join a host of others Satchel.
Reader’s Rating: 2 / 5
The leader has done the impossible: written a dull biography of Satchel Paige. But he has included every baseball cliche imaginable.
Having just read the fantastic new bio of Yogi, I figured this was bound to be just as appealing, and more colorful. But there is no real hint of Satchel the man, and very small attempt to place Satchel in context.
The tale is heart-breaking: that such a fantastic pitcher didn’t get to play in the major leagues. But the tale is not told well. Very disappointing.
Reader’s Rating: 3 / 5
If you like baseball and like a excellent tale by a gifted writer, this book will be a huge disappointment. Mr. Tye took what should have been an epic tale about a fantastic ballplayer, probably the best pitcher ever, and made him dull. Oh, there are a few amusing anecdotes and a few gee whiz stats, but Satchel is buried in Tye’s sermon-like prose.
Compare this book with Charles Einstein’s “Willie’s Time” and you’ll see what I mean. It is the personification of capturing the essence of a ballplayer and the times in which he lived. Einstein is also a first-class writer. Tye is not.
Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5
Having some familiarity with Paige and his era of baseball (blackball as Tye keeps referring to it), I establish the book to be unfocused and not containing a very excellent tale line. I blame the leader more than the theme. As a very young boy, I read the “Dont Look Back” book, which is probably an autobiography in the loosest of sense, but establish it far more enjoyable and urge anyone interested in Satchel to look that one up first. Tye begiins his book by apologizing for using what we now find racially archaic terms, and that pretty much sets the tone for what follows. The book is probably best suited for the casual baseball fan, but if you already knew a bit about Satchel Paige, it is a dissappointment.
Reader’s Rating: 2 / 5
Meticulously researched and masterfully written, “Satchel” will easily make my personal Top 10 Book list for 09.
Satchel Paige was more of a mystery than most, in part, because he was so with intention, as illusory as it was deliberate. Like his pitches that seemed to do things no additional thrown ball did, Mr. Paige knowingly and cleverly controlled the spin on his life long before “spin doctors” were known. To learn so many “facts” about him and deliver them with such precision and grace would make the pitcher-sage, himself, proud.
After reading Larry Tye’s biography, I walk away especially impressed with Paige’s devotion to craft, his balance of labor and leisure (“Sometimes you need to sit and reflect, and sometimes you need to just sit.” SP), his facing incorrect with wit, and perhaps more than anything else, his effortless comfortableness with his own uniqueness, on and off the mound.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5