This Day In Baseball - The Daily Rewind

1948 - The Indians stun the baseball world by signing Satchel Paige, veteran Negro League pitcher. The move is ridiculed by some as a Bill Veeck publicity stunt, and J.G. Taylor Spink in The Sporting News editorializes, "Veeck has gone too far in his quest for publicity [...] To sign a hurler at Paige's age is to demean the standards of baseball in the big circuits." The 42-year-old Paige will answer the critics in his first game tomorrow, getting a relief decision in a 8 - 6 win over New York in a doubleheader sweep. He will finish at 6 - 1. Paige is the oldest player to debut in the majors, but not the first 40-year-old: Chuck Hostetler in 1944 was 40. 1964 - Johnny Callison's 9th-inning 3-run home run off Dick Radatz caps a 4-run rally and gives the National League a 7 - 4 win in the All-Star Game at Shea Stadium. This evens the series at 17.1971: In his Baseball Hall of Fame induction speech in 1966, Ted Williams made a strong plea for inclusion of Negro league stars in the Hall. After the publication of