Leon Day recalls facing the legendary Satchel Paige four times. He earned
three wins and suffered one unforgettable loss. Day lost to Paige in
Puerto Rico. . . on an error. And what a play. Day and Paige had gone the
distance. The score was tied. The bases were loaded with two outs. The
next pitch was a grounder to first. Everyone thought the game was over.
Heck, the catcher even started his dash for the dugout. After all, this was
Puerto Rico. It was hot. Then, a strange thing happened. The first baseman
fielded the ball cleanly and, instead of running to his base for the final
out, he quickly threw home for the force. But the position had been vacated
and the ball caromed off the backstop fencing and the winning runner danced
home. "I had him beat," Day told Sweet Spot in an interview, weeks before
his election to the Hall of Fame and subsequent death. Was he steamed?
Angry? Humiliated? "No, I wasn't hot about it," he said. "I guess I was
kinda warm, but there was nothing I could do about it." Leon Day beat Paige
three other times, notably a 4-1 victory in 1942 over Paige's Kansas City
Monarchs. It would be the only game the Grays won. Day had joined the
Homestead Grays just to face Paige in the Negro League World Series game.
O'Neil, who managed the Monarchs recalled that Day must have struck out 17
of his batters. Earlier that year, Day and Paige pitched in the East-West
All-Star game. The score was tied 2-2 when Day entered. He finished the
game and got the win 5-2, striking out five of the seven batters he faced.
The East batters touched Paige and company before 48,000 fans.
Leon Day recalls facing the legendary Satchel Paige four times. He earned
three wins and suffered one unforgettable loss. Day lost to Paige in
Puerto Rico. . . on an error. And what a play. Day and Paige had gone the
distance. The score was tied. The bases were loaded with two outs. The
next pitch was a grounder to first. Everyone thought the game was over.
Heck, the catcher even started his dash for the dugout. After all, this was
Puerto Rico. It was hot. Then, a strange thing happened. The first baseman
fielded the ball cleanly and, instead of running to his base for the final
out, he quickly threw home for the force. But the position had been vacated
and the ball caromed off the backstop fencing and the winning runner danced
home. "I had him beat," Day told Sweet Spot in an interview, weeks before
his election to the Hall of Fame and subsequent death. Was he steamed?
Angry? Humiliated? "No, I wasn't hot about it," he said. "I guess I was
kinda warm, but there was nothing I could do about it." Leon Day beat Paige
three other times, notably a 4-1 victory in 1942 over Paige's Kansas City
Monarchs. It would be the only game the Grays won. Day had joined the
Homestead Grays just to face Paige in the Negro League World Series game.
O'Neil, who managed the Monarchs recalled that Day must have struck out 17
of his batters. Earlier that year, Day and Paige pitched in the East-West
All-Star game. The score was tied 2-2 when Day entered. He finished the
game and got the win 5-2, striking out five of the seven batters he faced.
The East batters touched Paige and company before 48,000 fans.