Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Monarchs Video Update

"To Satchel Paige, World's Greatest Pitcher, From the Chicago Defender, World's Greatest Weekly, July 26, 1942"

Well, this is a little embarrassing. After getting all proud of myself for identifying the date this wonderful footage was taken, baseball historian Dwayne Isgrig emails to point out that it appears the Monarchs and Memphis Red Sox are in Wrigley Field. And of course he is right. (Wrigley is especially recognizable in the clip where Satchel Paige is being presented with a gift.) So...never mind about all that opener of 1942 in Kansas City business I wrote about.

But - I do think I've pinpointed a new date on which the footage was surely taken: July 26, 1942. The Monarchs and Red Sox played a doubleheader at Wrigley that day, and the Chicago Defender report on the games even includes specifics about a tribute to Paige that took place between the two games. The gift we see being handed to Paige in the video is probably an engraved pocket watch presented by the Chicago Defender mentioned in the game summaries. Mr. Isgrig passed along this link of the very same pocket watch showing up on Antiques Roadshow in 2006. Incredible.

As you can see in the summaries and boxes below, the teams split the doubleheader, with Hilton Smith not having a good day on the mound in the first game for Kansas City, and Satchel beating Verdell Mathis in the second. (Note Buck O'Neil is called "Joe" O'Neil in the summary.)


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