Satchel Paige didn't have an ERA of 0.00.

"'Satchel Paige' Joe DiMaggio said.

Not Bob Feller, not Dizzy Dean, not Lefty Grove, not Carl Hubbell, but 'Satchel Paige.'

Joe's unflinching response in 1939 to the inquiry of  'the best pitcher he ever faced' stunned a group of stadium reporters.

While Joe DiMaggio was no social crusader, he knew great pitching.

 Like many other major leaguers, he faced Paige during interracial barnstorming exhibitions that were not uncommon in the off-season.

About Paige, sports writer Joe Posnanski writes:

'(He was) unhittable for the better part of 15 years. One pitch. It's a lot like Mariano Rivera, except he wasn't doing it for one inning at a time. He was pitching complete games.'

Let that sink in for a minute."

I can see where this is heading.

I have no reason to slag on Satchel Freaking Paige. The problem with this analysis is that it ignores the fact that Paidge didn't have to face the best white players. His brilliance is undeniable; his domination of the Major Leagues is probable, bust also largely boosted by the imagination.


"If the prospect of facing Mariano for nine innings seems frightening, try adding Hilton Smith's nasty curveball the next day. In 1941, the Kansas City Royals did not exist, but Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro American League did — and Hall of Famers Paige and Smith formed the greatest 1-2 punch in ALL of baseball — and arguably, baseball history.

Joe DiMaggio never had to face the Kansas City Monarchs in 1941. Or any Negro League team."

This is an under-reported phenomenon, I agree.

The best thing about modern-day American Major League Baseball is that it attracts the best talent from all over the world. I totally love watching players from all over the country and all over the world, assembled on the same team, competing with and against one another. It's just cool.


"As usual, the impact of DiMaggio's actual whites-only playing field was not discussed.

 
This comes five years after a slew of celebrations for The Streak's 70th anniversary. In 2011, The Sporting News staff voted '56' as sport's greatest record. Kostya Kennedy's '56: The Last Magic Number in Sports' became a New York Times best seller, and its publisher, Sports Illustrated, gave Joe it's cover. It was called 'Baseball's Holy Grail,' and at ESPN, it was called 'the most romantic record' for its 'aura,' 'magic,' and penetration into 'the cornfields of American culture.'"

Very few players have gotten to 40 games in a row, much less 56.

Of course DiMaggio played with some advantages -- inferior fielding equipment, tired pitchers who threw 300 innings, easier travel schedules, cultural aversion to intentional walks and fielding shifts and stacked bullpens.

He also played with some disadvantages -- inferior batting technology, inferior training techniques, soft baseballs, bad scouting.

If you compare DiMaggio's accomplishment to all the players who've tried to hit baseballs in the professional ranks, you can't help but be amazed.


"Finding critical dissent on baseball's 'Jim Crow Era' is hard to come by amongst an almost exclusively white mainstream baseball media. When sports announcer Bob Costas held a baseball panel to discuss the 'legitimacy' of Barry Bonds' passing of Hank Aaron's career home run record in 2007, he invited a comedian — and not a sports journalist — to address the relevance of race."

I definitely agree that there's a certain Old White Man element in baseball lore, up to the present day. The references to "Field of Dreams" juxtaposed with the anger at Bautista's bat flip ... like Shoeless Joe is a hero and Joey Bats is a criminal.

I can also see how all the Baseball Poets and their weird Pastoral Nostalgia does not reflect reality -- especially to a black man who was denied equal access.

But here's the thing: Joe D. could flat-out rake.


"The 'white ball' benefits of Joe's streak is not the same as Babe Ruth — whose home run totals would still remain historic had they landed closer to Willie Mays territory (660 HRs). The career totals of Ruth, Ty Cobb, or Walter Johnson were inflated from great to greater.

But Joe DiMaggio’s streak wasn't merely inflated by the times, it was created by them.

Without the influence of Performance-Enhancing Whiteness, it would simply not have happened."

That is hard to imagine. DiMaggio could never get a well-timed hit off of a black pitcher?


"During his streak, DiMaggio faced a Hall of Famer pitcher in his prime only two times in 56 games (Bob Feller twice). He would likely see Paige and Smith in four to eight games during his streak. If Negro League aces Leon Day (Newark Eagles) and Raymond Brown (Homestead Grays) also pitched in white baseball's American League, DiMaggio would likely face 8-to-16 games against prime Hall of Fame-level pitching."

So Leon Day never gave up a hit?

"Utley — who is white — was shut down by a Cuban, an American, and a Puerto Rican. But in 1941, Major League Baseball did not split such hairs — all three would have been banned. Period. (Only a very small number of white and light-skinned Latinos were permitted in 1941.)

Did any media notice?

If 2006 were 1941, Chase Utley's streak would live to see another day."

Uhhh ... this makes no sense and I am stopping now.

The exploration of Jim Crow baseball is important, under-reported, and interesting.

The attempt to say what "woulda happened" in a specific example, on a specific day, is total nonsense. Maybe the Streak was just a Black Swan event.