The Pitcher and the Dictator
Satchel Paige's Unlikely Season in the Dominican Republic
Publication Year: 2018
In the initial games, the Ciudad Trujillo all-star team floundered. Living outside the shadow of segregation, Satchel and his recruits spent their nights carousing and their days dropping close games to their rivals, who were also stocked with great players. Desperate to restore discipline, Trujillo tapped the leader of his death squads to become part of the team management. The American players believed they might be lined up and shot if they lost the tournament.
When Paige’s team ultimately rallied to win, it barely registered with Trujillo, who a few months later ordered the killings of fifteen thousand Haitians at the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Paige and his teammates returned to the states to face banishment from the Negro Leagues, but ironically they barnstormed across America wearing their Trujillo All-Stars uniforms.
The Pitcher and the Dictator is an extraordinary story of race, politics, and some of the greatest baseball players ever assembled, playing high-stakes baseball in support of one of the Caribbean’s cruelest dictators.
Published by: University of Nebraska Press
Cover

Preface: Recovery of a Lost History
I fell in love with baseball when I was twelve years old. That year I bought the 1956 edition of The Official Encyclopedia of Baseball for ten cents at my school’s annual rummage sale. How I pored over that magical book at every opportunity—it had stats for...

6. A Long, Lanky Black Boy by the Name of Satchell
One-dollar-a-game Satchel kept his eyes peeled for the next big thing. It took him two years of playing with the semipro Mobile Tigers and other local teams to get his first taste of professional ball. His big chance was given to him in the spring of...

17. The Heartbreaking End of Josh Gibson
Following the Dragones’ victory, Josh and Sammy were swept out of the stadium and down Calle El Conde by the mob. Stuck in the bustle they were alternatively cheered, pushed, touched, kissed, hugged, and toasted. They stalled when the mob congealed...

Appendix: Notes on Paige’s Magical Pitching
In 1934 Satchel spent a warm winter in Los Angeles singing on the radio and hurling baseballs for the Royal Colored Giants—a team the Los Angeles Times called a “dusky squad.”1 Before throwing his last game of the winter season in Los Angeles, he headed...
Illustrations
E-ISBN-13: 9781496206718
E-ISBN-10: 1496206711
Print-ISBN-13: 9781496205490
Page Count: 232
Illustrations:
Publication Year: 2018
OCLC Number: 1015269584
MUSE Marc Record: Download for The Pitcher and the Dictator