50 Satchel Paige Quotes From the Famous Baseball Pitcher

These Satchel Paige quotes from the famous baseball pitcher will teach you how to succeed in your dreams, even if it seems the entire world is against you.

Satchel Paige (born Leroy Page) grew up playing “top ball” a baseball-like game played by kids in the 1910s that used sticks and bottle caps instead of balls and bats.

When he was 12, Paige was sentenced to six years of reform school in Alabama. It was there that Paige learned how to pitch. When released from the school, Paige started pitching professionally for the Negro Leagues.

Paige’s fastball earned him a reputation in the league and his ability to overpower batters allowed Paige to bounce around from team-to-team in search of the biggest paycheck.

At the age of 41, Paige became the first black man to play in the American League when he made his Major Baseball League debut for the Cleveland Indians.

Paige would go on breaking records and playing ball for 18 more years until he retired at the age of 60. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971.

We hope you are inspired by these Satchel Page quotes.

Don’t forget to also check out these baseball quotes for the inner child.

Motivational Satchel Paige quotes

1. “Don’t look back. Something might be gaining on you.” — Satchel Paige

2. “Never let the odds keep you from pursuing what you know in your heart you were meant to do.” — Satchel Paige

3. “Never let your head hang down. Never give up and sit down and grieve. Find another way.” — Satchel Paige

4. “Ain’t no man can avoid being born average, but there ain’t no man got to be common.” — Satchel Paige

5. “Work like you don’t need the money. Love like you’ve never been hurt. Dance like nobody’s watching.” — Satchel Paige

6. “If a man can beat you, walk him.” — Satchel Paige

7. “You win a few, you lose a few. Some get rained out. But you got to dress for all of them.” — Satchel Paige

Wise Satchel Paige quotes

8. “Avoid fried foods, which angry up the blood.” — Satchel Paige

9. “Go very lightly on vices such as carrying on in society. The social ramble ain’t restful.” — Satchel Paige

10. “Sometimes I sits and thinks and sometimes I just sits.” — Satchel Paige

11. “Age is a question of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.” — Satchel Paige

12. “Mother always told me, if you tell a lie, always rehearse it. If it don’t sound good to you, it won’t sound good to no one else.” — Satchel Paige

13. “When the green’s floating around, make sure you get your share.” — Satchel Paige

14. “You always got to be thinking to make money.” — Satchel Paige

Satchel Paige quotes on pitching

15. “I sure get laughs when I see in the papers where some major league pitcher says he gets a sore arm because he’s overworked and he pitches every four days. Man, that’d be a vacation for me.” — Satchel Paige

16. “I ain’t as fast as I used to be, but I’m a better pitcher. I used to overpower them; now I out-cute them.” — Satchel Paige

17. “Just take the ball and throw it where you want to. Throw strikes. Home plate don’t move.” — Satchel Paige

18. “I use my single windup, my double windup, my triple windup, my hesitation windup, my no windup. I also use my step-n-pitch-it, my submariner, my sidearmer, and my bat dodger. Man’s got to do what he’s got to do.” — Satchel Paige

19. “It’s funny what a few no-hitters do for a body.” — Satchel Paige

20. “Throw high risers at the chin and throw peas at the knees. Throw it here when they’re lookin’ there and throw it there when they’re lookin’ here.” — Satchel Paige

21. “When a batter swings and I see his knees move, I can tell just what his weaknesses are then I just put the ball where I know he can’t hit it.” — Satchel Paige

22. “I never threw an illegal pitch. The trouble is, once in a while I would toss one that ain’t never been seen by this generation.” — Satchel Paige

23. “They said I was the greatest pitcher they ever saw — I couldn’t understand why they couldn’t give me no justice.” — Satchel Paige

24. “I know I can pitch – I been stopping major leaguers all my life.” — Satchel Paige

25. “The crowd was surprised when I struck out the side. I wasn’t, I did that lots of times. And I expect to do it more, too.” — Satchel Paige

26. “Once in a while I toss one that ain’t never been seen by this generation.” — Satchel Paige

27. “My pitching philosophy is simple – keep the ball way from the bat.” — Satchel Paige

28. “You ain’t seen no speed yet. Just wait until the weather warms up.” — Satchel Paige

More Satchel Paige quotes on baseball

29. “You look for his weakness and while you’re looking for it, he’s liable to hit forty-five home runs.” — Satchel Paige (on Josh Gibson)

30. “Keep the juices flowing by jangling around gently as you move.” — Satchel Paige

31. “I don’t generally like running. I believe in training by rising gently up and down from the bench.” — Satchel Paige

32. “I ain’t ever had a job, I just always played baseball.” — Satchel Paige

33. “My catcher showed up and he must have been Old Man Moses. He was so old he didn’t have to crouch.” — Satchel Paige

34. “One time I snuck a ball on with me and when I went to winding up, I threw one of them balls to first and one to second. I was so smooth I picked off both runners and fanned the batter without that ump or the other team even knowing it.” — Satchel Paige

35. “When I was ten and when I was fifty, there was one thing I could do – play baseball. And you better believe it.” — Satchel Paige

Other inspiring Satchel Paige quotes

36. “I never rush myself. See, they can’t start the game without me.” — Satchel Paige

37. “Don’t pray when it rains if you don’t pray when the sun shines.” — Satchel Paige

38. “They want me to be old so I give ‘em what they want. Seems they get a bigger kick out of an old man throwing strikeouts.” — Satchel Paige

39. “Don’t go to college, unless to get knowledge.” — Satchel Paige

40. “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.” — Satchel Paige

41. “With women, it’s like this. I’m not married but I’m in great demand.” — Satchel Paige

42. “Never be unfaithful to a lover, except with your wife.” — Satchel Paige

43. “My feet ain’t got nothing to do with my nickname, but when folks get it in their heads that a feller’s got big feet, soon the feet start looking big.” — Satchel Paige

44. “I may not be the bestest pitcher in the world, but I sure out-cutes ’em .” — Satchel Paige

45. “If they make you go where learning is flying around, some of it is bound to light on you.” — Satchel Paige

46. “If your stomach disputes you, lie down and pacify it with cool thoughts.” — Satchel Paige

47. “It kind of hurts me when folks say I’m an old man.” — Satchel Paige

48. “I can show you a man who says I’m over 60. Everybody’s got a different number. They play bingo with me.” — Satchel Paige

49. “How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you were?” — Satchel Paige

50. “I’ve said it once and I’ll say it a hundred times, I’m forty-four years old.” — Satchel Paige

You might also like these Hank Aaron quotes that speak to his love of baseball.

Did you enjoy these Satchel Paige quotes?

Satchel Paige made a successful career for himself despite the adversity against him. Paige’s talent as a pitcher was described as second to none and his determination to live his life playing baseball made sure that that was all he ever did.

There was no way that Paige was ever going to give up on his dreams, and neither should you. Take a page out of Paige’s book and go for your dreams — even if the world seems to be against you, even if you think you might fail. If you are determined enough, there is no way you won’t succeed.

Which of these Satchel Paige quotes and sayings was your favorite? Let us know in the comments below.