Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow

Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow
Author: James Sturm
Illustrator: Rich Tommaso

Baseball Hall-of-Famer Leroy “Satchel” Paige (1905?–1982) changed the face of the game in a career that spanned five decades. Much has been written about this larger-than-life pitcher, but when it comes to Paige, fact does not easily separate from fiction. He made a point of writing his own history . . . and then rewriting it. A tall, lanky fireballer, he was arguably the Negro Leagues’ hardest thrower, most entertaining storyteller, and greatest gate attraction. Now the Center for Cartoon Studies turns a graphic novelist’s eye to Paige’s story. Told from the point of view of a sharecropper, this compelling narrative follows Paige from game to game as he travels throughout the segregated South.

In stark prose and powerful graphics, author and artist share the story of a sports hero, role model, consummate showman, and era-defining American.