Exceptional head to toe Type I photo of Satchel Paige showcasing one of the many elaborate de- liveries he baffled hitters with for more than 20 seasons in professional baseball. Posed at Brigg’s Stadium, Detroit News photographer William Kuenzel has captured the future Hall of Famer in uniform with the Negro American League’s Kansas City Monarchs almost a decade prior to debuting for the then all-white Cleveland Indians. A dom- inating ace, and one of the most popular ballplay- ers of any color during his era, Paige featured for the Monarchs from 1940-47, helping them capture three-consecutive Negro American League pen- nants from 1940-42, including a four-game sweep of Josh Gibson’s Homestead Grays in the 1942 Ne- gro World Series. Paige famously became the first black pitcher in American League history upon his debut with Cleveland in 1948 and several original photos do exist within the hobby from his time with the Tribe. Exceedingly more scarce, howev- er, are original photos such as the offered example featuring Paige in a Negro Leagues uniform. Local papers of the era simply did not cover the Negro Leagues regularly and, as a result, little demand existed for major news photo services to provide images of the players. Visible handling wear com- mon to working news service photos is apparent to surface of this photo when titled towards a light source, and a small piece of the extreme lower-left corner has chipped away. Verso displays multiple handwritten editorial notations related to publi- cation of the image along with four different date stamps, the earliest of which hails from Sept. 15, 1941. Photographer William Kuenzel’s personal credit stamping has been applied to verso towards the top edge. Measures approx. 7” x 9” overall. Au- thenticated and encapsulated as a Type 1 photo by PSA/DNA. MINIMUM BID: $2,500 21. 1941 Satchel Paige (HOF) Original Type I News Service Photo by William Kuenzel (PSA/DNA)
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