Unbreakable

Insightful

Fearless

"Sometimes I feel so nice...good God...I jump back...I wanna kiss myself..."

James Brown - Super Bad

I was in the bookstore today to purchase a few periodicals and I was greeted by a new biography about Leroy Paige.

History

I've often said that African Americans can learn a great deal if they look at baseball and the famed Negro Leagues of yesteryear. Within the first 8 minutes of my reading excerpts from this book, I was both enlightened and wonderfully amazed at the life of Satchel Paige. He was a talent on and off the field as he pitched forever, as well as he played music and had a stint as an actor.

I believe he is most known for his baseball prowess as he is his phrases and sayings. Some of his words are as follows:

"Don't pray when it rains, if you don't pray when the sun shines."

"How old would you be, if you didn't know how old you are?"

"Money and women. They're two of the strongest things in the world. The things you do for a woman, you wouldn't do for anything else. Same with money."

"You win a few, you lose a few. Some get rained out. But you got to dress for all of them."

Photo: George Strock/LIFE