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Satch. The Babe. Baxes. Gibson. Baker.

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Satch in Portland.


Aug. 27, 1961. A 54-year-old Satchel Paige takes the mound for the Portland Beavers against their PCL rival, Seattle Rainiers at Sicks’ Stadium in Seattle, Washington. Satchel’s PCL career was shortlived, as he only pitched in 5 games late in the season, but in those 5 games, he did manage to pitch 25 innings and finish with a 2.88 ERA. Not bad for a guy pushing 60 who was essentially signed as a promotion.

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Babe & Dizzy.

In 1935, Babe Ruth quietly wrapped up his career as a member of the Boston Braves. Some may consider this last chapter of the Babe’s career to be sad and anti-climatic, but I think it’s strange and for that reason, I love it. I’ve always been interested in legendary players who end their careers with teams (or leagues) that they are not typically associated with. This is certainly applicable to the above image of Satchel Paige.

With that said, there is something cool about Babe posing for a photo with a National League pitching star in Dizzy Dean, who I’m guessing he may have only previously faced in exhibition or spring training games? Looking at the 1935 Braves season, it looks like the 40-year-old Babe went 0 for 6 in two games against Dean.

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Seals vs Stars.

1950. Hollywood Stars infielder, Jim Baxes takes a ball to the back from San Francisco Seals pitcher, Chet Johnson at old Gilmore Field in Los Angeles, California. This photo is interesting to me because it’s classic PCL baseball in action, but the ball bouncing so far and high off of Baxes, while Seals catcher, Ray Orteig watches is cool, regardless of the era. I could do without the shorts that Baxes is wearing, though…

The Los Angeles Times covered this game and provided some insight to Baxes entering as a late-inning pitching replacement and why he was hit with the ball. It’s actually kind of interesting and worth the read: Plunked In The Back.

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East–West All-Star Game.

The 1939 East-West All-Star Game took place in old Comiskey Park and according to the photo above, over 40,000 people came to watch. Those in attendance witnessed Henry Milton of the Kansas City Monarchs attempt to score and get tagged out by Homestead Gray’s catcher, Josh Gibson. Based on this photo, it must have been an INCREDIBLY quick swipe tag by Gibson to get Milton, because at the split second this was image was captured it does not seem likely that Gibson was going to get him.

In the image I shared, first base is cut off in the background, but if you look at this Google books preview of the book, “Black Baseball in Chicago”, you can see Buck Leonard watching the play take place. This is the nerdy baseball stuff that catches my eye and gets me excited.

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A’s vs Naps.

Frank ‘Homerun’ Baker of the Philadelphia A’s prepares to slide into home plate while Ted Easterly of the Cleveland Naps awaits the star third basemen. There’s not a lot to say about this photo, but much like the Negro League image above, it’s a great action shot from an era of baseball that I’m fascinated with.


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