Russell Page

Russell Page, 1932

For several seasons in the 1930's Gilkerson had a pitcher named "Paige" on his roster.  It was not, however, the one you're thinking of.

Russell Page was from Peoria, Illinois.  Like his older brother Ernest Page, Russell was a star athlete at Peoria Central High School and at Western Illinois State Teachers College (now Western Illinois University).

In May 1930, it was announced that Page was named the captain of Western's baseball team.  He was still a freshman at the time.  The 1931 yearbook described him as "one of the outstanding moundsmen in the Little Nineteen."  They added,  "He has been pitching steady ball all season and with good support he should win the greater number of his games."

That summer, as early as June 9th, Page was pitching for Gilkerson's Union Giants.  He was with the team all the way to the West Coast, pitching games in Oregon and Washington.  When he wasn't on the mound he could occasionally be found playing the outfield.  By mid-August however, Page no longer shows up in any of the Union Giants' box scores.   

In the fall, Page did not return to Western Illinois.  It would have been his junior year at the college.  He did however come back to the Union Giants in the summer of 1932, pitching from early May until late September.  Their annual tour took the team farther than ever before, even reaching California for the first and only time.  Toward the end of the season, Page was being listed as "Paige" in most box scores, particularly in Nebraska.

The legend of Satchel Paige was still taking shape in the early 1930s, but talk of his greatness had clearly reached the Midwest.  So much so, that on September 16, 1932 the Omaha World-Herald reported that Satchel Paige had pitched for Gilkerson in the first annual Midwestern baseball tournament.  Almost certainly, it was Russell and not Satchel on the mound that day.   The Union Giants lost the game 3-2 to the Norfolk, NE team.  The "Paige" pitching gave up ten hits, striking out just four and walking three.  Not exactly the stuff of legends.

At the beginning of the 1933 season, the Sioux City Journal reported, "Russell Page, right handed pitcher with Gilkerson's Union Giants for the last two years" had signed with the Sioux City Ghosts.  According to a few available line scores, Page appears to have pitched for the Ghosts in early June.  Before July however he was back with Gilkerson.

In a July 3rd game in Billings, MT, "Russell Paige" was playing left field for the Union Giants according to the Billings Gazette.  For almost all of 1933, Page's last name was again misspelled as "Paige" in box scores.  Like the year before, when he wasn't pitching, he was usually playing the outfield.  Page finished out the season with the Union Giants.  In one of the last games of the year, he hit a home run against the Dunn County All Stars in Menomonie, Wisconsin.  

In 1934, Page did not return to the team.  It is unclear if Page ever played organized baseball again.  He appears to have lived in Macomb and nearby Davenport, Iowa in the decade afterwards.

As for Satchel Paige, a few baseball historians have claimed that he pitched for Gilkerson's Union Giants at one time or another.  I however found no evidence to support that claim.   In fact, as far as I can tell, Satchel Paige and the Union Giants never met on a ball diamond, not even as opponents.

The closest they got was a game in Winnipeg, Manitoba in May 1934.  Satchel was scheduled to pitch for the Bismarck, ND team in the opening game of a series of contests with the Union Giants.  Satchel however failed to show up for the game.  After the fact, the Winnipeg newspaper reported that Paige wasn't unable to pitch because he was in jail.  It turned out, while on his way to Bismarck, Satchel had been detained in Chicago for breaking his contract with the Pittsburgh Crawfords.   It didn't help his case that he had borrowed the owner's car to get there.

In the end, the Bismarck team didn't need him for the series.  They swept the Union Giants in eight games in Winnipeg.  This was a sign of things to come.  The Union Giants' reign as one of the top barnstorming teams in the country was coming to an end.