By Cory Armstrong-Hoss / Herald Forum
Summer is here, and I’ve been thinking about baseball and getting older.
Last summer, eager to try out the fresh Olympic View Middle School turf field, my son asked me to help him with Long Toss, a baseball drill for pitchers. He stood on one end, launching a ball 60 or 70 yards towards me, to loosen and strengthen his throwing arm.
It’s hard to write about what happened next.
I jogged — yes, jogged — with the ball about 30 yards toward him, to get to a distance where I could throw it back, then jogged back to the 65-yard line. At that moment, the truth was undeniable: My 15-year-old could throw a baseball farther than twice as far as me. We repeated this about a dozen times, before Cole gave up on me, and said he’d do Long Toss later with one of his friends.
Those Long Toss throws to me — baseballs bouncing fast and quiet on turf, covering distance I knew I couldn’t make — were flashing reminders: My kids are becoming stronger, faster and taller than me, as my inevitable physical decline takes its toll.
I find no solace in the Instagram ads for increasing my testosterone, hacking my metabolism with mushroom-based coffee powders, or the mail-order companies that deperately want to help me with ED, weight loss and hair rRestoration. But, there’s one man who gives me hope: The late, great Satchel Paige, who was born in 1906 in Mobile, Ala. From Wikipedia:
“At age 42 in 1948, Paige made his debut for the Cleveland Indians; to this day, this makes him the oldest debutant in National League or American League history. … Paige was 59 years old when he played his last major league game, which is also a record that stands to this day… in 1948, Paige became the first player who had played in the Negro leagues to pitch in the World Series; the Indians won the Series that year.”
Paige threw wicked fastballs, and he named his various pitches: Bat Dodger, Midnight Rider, Midnight Creeper, Jump Ball, Trouble Ball. And, there was some evidence that he was actually older than he let on. “In 1959, Paige’s mother told a reporter that he was 55 rather than 53, saying she knew this because she wrote it down in her Bible.”
Paige had this to say about getting older: “Age is a question of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.” When pressed on the issue of his real age, Paige turned the question around: “If someone asked you how old you were and you didn’t know your age, how old would you think you were?”
The Long Toss debacle reminds me that I’m getting older, but then I think about Satchel Paige, pitching in the majors at 59, and I start to feel young again.
If you’re like me, thinking about summer, baseball and getting older, Paige had some thoughts for us. Beneath his given name, Leroy Robert and his birth and death dates, his tombstone reads:
He began work carrying suitcases at Mobile Union Station and devised a sling harness for hustling several bags at once. The other Red Caps said he looked like a “walking satchel tree,” thus Leroy became Satchel and Satchel became a legend.
HOW TO STAY YOUNG
• Avoid fried meats which angry up the blood.
• If your stomach disputes you, lie down and pacify it with cool thoughts.
• Keep the juices flowing by jangling around gently as you move.
• Go very lightly on the vices, such as carrying on in society. The social ramble ain’t restful.
• Avoid running at all times.
• Don’t look back. Something might be gaining on you.
Cory Armstrong-Hoss lives in Everett with his wife and three kids. His kids have played a number of different sports. A lifelong athlete, he’s served as a coach, ref, and youth sports administrator.
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