The Cooperstown article says he was struck out with a change-up, not a fastball. That seems *exactly* like the sort of thing that would have angered Williams. ;-)
This second article still doesn't show the signature, but makes this claim:
"The underside of the barrel features Paige’s name, written in cursive (not seen in these photos). Upon first glance, it appears it might be Paige’s autograph. But a closer looks reveals the spelling of Paige’s first name as “Satchell,” with two ‘Ls.’ Paige’s first name was spelled with only one ‘L.’ There’s no way Paige would have misspelled his own name in signing the bat, so we can rule out that this is a legitimate autograph."
Reading this was like walking down a street and turning a corner to find something fantastic only to turn the next corner to find something else just as good. And you keep going around corners, finding something marvelous, and thinking, I have to see what's next. Then you get to the last corner and find the most amazing sight of them all.
It was really nice being there in person to see the highly efficient, well-oiled, perfectly executed, flawless production that is the Poscast. This was a great excuse to visit Cooperstown again.
Joe had mentioned that the Cooperstown podcast would be his first under Meadowlark Media, and was hoping it would be up by Monday (Oct. 11). I haven't seen it yet, and Meadowlark itself doesn't seem like it is fully visible. I hope this podcast isn't delayed due to the start-up hiccups with Meadowlark.
I’m so glad I saved this to read late this afternoon. It’s dark and threatening here in the KC metro. Migraine weather. But I got to treat myself to a story well told and I’m just super happy now.
Me and my family had a solid time up in Cooperstown this weekend. My dad hadn’t been there in 30 years and he had the time of his life. My 3 year-old sat through the entire Poscast (though I can’t say for sure if he was awake for One Last Meaningless Thing) and I watched in horror as my mom chased you down the street, only to accost you in the lobby while you were trying to get to the theater (she still won’t tell me what you talked about).
The whole day was fantastic, thanks to you and Mike for giving our family a great excuse to get out of town and spend a weekend together!
It was a treat to be there yesterday, to attend both events (I even got to ask a question), purchase a signed book (although I didn't get you to sign it -- that's another story), and run into the 3 of you on your late-day tour... that was me lurking near you when you were watching the Pine Tar clip.
Joe, if we can't go into the archives ourselves the next best thing is having you describe them for us. I can't imagine there's a better sportswriter alive today, and I thank you for everything. This was incredible!
I’m dogging Tom online, I turn 60 next year and I know what I want to do to celebrate
There should be a video tour of the Archives. Just wandering around, pointing out some of the items.
It will be the baseball fan's equivalent of this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eSdwsx9F-E
Such a personal item. Wonder how it ended up in the HoF? Yawkey had reciprocal feelings for Williams. Baseball is as full of contradictions.
The Cooperstown article says he was struck out with a change-up, not a fastball. That seems *exactly* like the sort of thing that would have angered Williams. ;-)
The Ted Williams bat Joe mentions is on the HoF’s web site at https://collection.baseballhall.org/PASTIME/ted-williams-bat-1951-september-14-1. Unfortunately it only shows the topside of the bat so doesn’t show Satchel Paige’s autograph. You can see at least one of the dents Joe mentions.
I should have checked further down in Google’s list. Check out https://tht.fangraphs.com/highlighting-an-artifact-the-williams-paige-connection/
This second article still doesn't show the signature, but makes this claim:
"The underside of the barrel features Paige’s name, written in cursive (not seen in these photos). Upon first glance, it appears it might be Paige’s autograph. But a closer looks reveals the spelling of Paige’s first name as “Satchell,” with two ‘Ls.’ Paige’s first name was spelled with only one ‘L.’ There’s no way Paige would have misspelled his own name in signing the bat, so we can rule out that this is a legitimate autograph."
Reading this was like walking down a street and turning a corner to find something fantastic only to turn the next corner to find something else just as good. And you keep going around corners, finding something marvelous, and thinking, I have to see what's next. Then you get to the last corner and find the most amazing sight of them all.
Thank you for this, Joe. I loved everything about that story.
It was really nice being there in person to see the highly efficient, well-oiled, perfectly executed, flawless production that is the Poscast. This was a great excuse to visit Cooperstown again.
Joe had mentioned that the Cooperstown podcast would be his first under Meadowlark Media, and was hoping it would be up by Monday (Oct. 11). I haven't seen it yet, and Meadowlark itself doesn't seem like it is fully visible. I hope this podcast isn't delayed due to the start-up hiccups with Meadowlark.
Awesome. Just awesome.
I’m so glad I saved this to read late this afternoon. It’s dark and threatening here in the KC metro. Migraine weather. But I got to treat myself to a story well told and I’m just super happy now.
Joe,
Me and my family had a solid time up in Cooperstown this weekend. My dad hadn’t been there in 30 years and he had the time of his life. My 3 year-old sat through the entire Poscast (though I can’t say for sure if he was awake for One Last Meaningless Thing) and I watched in horror as my mom chased you down the street, only to accost you in the lobby while you were trying to get to the theater (she still won’t tell me what you talked about).
The whole day was fantastic, thanks to you and Mike for giving our family a great excuse to get out of town and spend a weekend together!
If you watch the HoF speech, Ted praises both the Negro League players and famous racist Tom Yawkey.
love your stuff! What a great story, this is. What a great storyteller you are!
It was a treat to be there yesterday, to attend both events (I even got to ask a question), purchase a signed book (although I didn't get you to sign it -- that's another story), and run into the 3 of you on your late-day tour... that was me lurking near you when you were watching the Pine Tar clip.
That was so great
Joe, if we can't go into the archives ourselves the next best thing is having you describe them for us. I can't imagine there's a better sportswriter alive today, and I thank you for everything. This was incredible!