It was a beautiful Augusta day in Cleveland as I walked up to bat. I thought it was 2005, but I would soon stand corrected. I entered the batter’s box and stood firm. I had fire in my eyes as if someone had talked about my mother. Then, I looked up and the fire became a week blaze. LeRoy "Satchel" Paige was on the mound. They called him Satchel because he worked as a baggage handler in his childhood. It was then it hit me that I was in 1948 and that I was playing in Satchel’s first major league game. He blew the first two pitches right by me, but I hit the third one with a sling of the bat. IT was a shot. IT seemed to glide on forever. I rubbed my eyes in disbelief, and then it happened. I awakened. I had almost fulfilled my biggest dream, to play with an American hero named Satchel Paige.

Satchel Paige is an American hero because he, along with others such as Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, and many others, made way for the success of African-Americans in the gave of baseball. Satchel was one of the best players in the Negro Leagues. "If he had a big lead, he’d occasionally call his teammates off the field (except the catcher) because he was so sure he’d strike out the hitter (usually hi did" (Kurkjian 23). He put on a good show every gave he pitched. "He once barnstormed 30,000 miles in one year" ("Paige, Satchel") He used an arsenal of pitches and deliveries to throw off the hitters’ timing. In 1935, he struck out Roger Hornsby, a batting legend, five times in one game. He pitched about 2,500 games and won 80% of them. In 1948, Paige joined the Cleveland Indians in the MLB and helped carry them to a pennant and a World Series title. Four years later, he was named to the AL All-Star team as a relief pitcher for the St. Louis Browns. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971. He worked for what he wanted, and that’s why he’s my hero indeed.