To commemorate his birthday, the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum has unveiled a special Kansas City A’s bobblehead to honor the time Satchel Paige came out of retirement to pitch for the last time in Major League Baseball.
Paige was 59 years old when A’s owner Charlie Finley inked a deal to pitch in one last game doing so on Sept. 25, 1965. In doing so, Paige became the oldest player to appear in a Major League Baseball game.
The special bobblehead shows Paige in a rocking chair, which he had next to the dugout for the event, saying that he didn’t want to sit in the dugout.
“I’m close enough to below the surface as is,” Paige said.
Fans have two opportunities to get the unique bobblehead: The first is to purchase the Satchel Paige Kansas City A’s Rocking Chair Bobblehead that was part of a recent Oakland A’s bobblehead promotion for $30. The other opportunity is to purchase a Satchel Paige Mystery Bobblehead Box.
According to the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum, the Mystery Bobblehead Boxes are available with 1 ($20), 3 ($50), or 5 ($75) bobbleheads. Each box will contain at least one Satchel Paige Bobblehead, and fans who purchase multiple boxes will receive unique bobbleheads with a maximum of 15 unique bobbleheads given limited quantities of many of the bobbleheads.
The bobbleheads were all produced by the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum in conjunction with the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, Dreams Fulfilled, and Satchel Paige’s family.
“We’re excited to offer fans outside of Oakland the opportunity to purchase the bobblehead commemorating Paige’s remarkable pitching performance with the Kansas City A’s in 1959 as well as a special mystery bobblehead box enabling fans to get some awesome bobbleheads of Satchel at a great price,” National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum co-founder and CEO Phil Sklar said. “Satchel’s bobbleheads have been the most popular in our Negro Leagues bobblehead collection, and we thought this was the perfect way to commemorate his birthday.”
Paige’s age has been debated, but historians put his birthday as July 7, 1906 in Mobile, Alabama. His career across the Negro Leagues and Major League Baseball are remarkable. Over 22 seasons he had a 2.74 ERA with a 1.11 career WHIP.
He was age 40 by the time Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier and was signed midway through the 1948 season by Cleveland Indians owner Bill Veeck. Paige would go 6-1 that year with a 2.48 ERA.
Paige was 42 by the time he hit the big leagues playing in 179 over six seasons. Paige went 28-31 with 33 saves and a 3.29 earned-run average. He was named to two All-Star Games with the Browns in the 1950s and finished 17th in the American League MVP voting in 1952.
To the game in which Finely lured Paige out of retirement in 1956 for one last game in the big leagues, he faced the Boston Red Sox. After giving up a double to Carl Yastrzemski he retired the Red Sox in both the second and third innings, including striking out Red Sox pitcher Bill Monbouquette.
Paige was removed from the game prior to the start of the 4th inning.
Satchel Paige became the first Negro Leagues player inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971. He died on June 8, 1982.
