Ageless Satchel Paige Visits Missoula – 4th Time – 1954
Ageless Satchel Paige Visits Missoula – 4th Time – 1954
Globetrotters Battle Whiskers Tonight; Paige, Bobo to Show
Baseball’s show of the season tonight at Campbell Park, featuring ageless Satchel Paige, greatest Negro pitcher of all time, and the Harlem Globetrotters’ strong ball club, opposing a powerful House of David club which presents Bobo Nickerson in unmatchable antics of the diamond.
The Trotters are known for their hustle and go-go brand of baseball. The Whiskers are a touring veteran outfit that knows all the answers.
Whiskers licked the Trotters at Miles City 8-7 after scoring three runs in two innings against Satchel. The Davids teed off on Paige in the first inning for a double and two singles following a hit-by-Paige casualty and though Trotters twice tied the score, they never did get ahead. Lovallo and Streigel did the pitching for the Whiskers.
Campbell Park opens at 6 o’clock tonight for the game starting at 8, the management announces.
Paige will pitch only a couple of innings, as he works in every town the teams visit.
The probable lineups:
Trotters – Carlisle, 2b; Gee, ss; Britton, 3b; Stewart, lf; King, 1b; Patterson, rf; Bolden, cf; Jones, Scott, c; Paige, Williams, Brown, Patterson, p.
House of David – Irvin, lf, Monroe, 2b; Ledwidge, cf; Gatt, c; Carline, ss; Donovan, 3b; Mitchell, 1b; Liska, Wisneski, Birkenkamp, rf; Lovallo, Streigel, Kimball, Kish, Liska, Wisneski, Birkenkamp, p
The Trotters had previously won a majority of games between the two clubs.
This is Paige’s fourth visit to Missoula, the first since he was in the major leagues as a World Series pitcher with Cleveland, later with the St. Louis Brown. Manager Winfield Scott Welch of the Trotters has been here with the Harlem boys before, conducting Saperstein tours both in basketball and baseball. Britton, third sacker, just came back from two seasons in the Japanese Pacific league, Gee, shortstop, belongs to the Brooklyn Dodgers.
The House of David has been coming to Missoula nearly every season since 1926 and has frequently been matched with the Negro teams on the road. Bobo Nickerson, the clown, is one of the best in sports, anywhere, any time, an entertainer of arts, and he has a good ball club back of him, hard-hitting lads who tee off at the plate.
The article above appeared in The Daily Missoulian on August 3, 1954.
A few comments made the following day in The Daily Missoulian:
“Satchel Paige’s blazing fast ball and Alexander’s sizzling fast curve breaking low whitewashed the House of David Monday night as Harlem Globe Trotters took the lead in their series by three games in a 3-0 victory. Sparkling fielding and the antics of Bobo Nickerson helped amuse the record crowd of 1,835 adults and 455 children which jammed the stands and parked along the foul lines and the outfield fences, and not a one hurt by a foul or a long ball.
“Ageless Satchmo is as fast as ever, boring that bullet ball over the plate like it was a marble. Not a hit did he allow. . .
“Nickerson’s buffoonery was constantly amusing, interesting and his mid-diamond features were followed by clowning on the coaching lines, disturbing the umpires in various ways, and drawing laughter through the evening.”
Some Quotes attributed to Paige:
About Age: “Age is a case of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it don’t matter.”
“How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?”
“Don’t look back. Something might be gaining on you.”
“Work like you don’t need the money. Love like you’ve never been hurt. Dance like nobody’s watching.”
Missoulian sportswriter Kim Briggeman wrote an article about one of Paige’s visits in 1999 – see link below:
https://missoulian.com/paige-from-history/article_caa01f75-efcd-5c29-9e3b-553068b39d89.html