Something to Prove: The Great Satchel Paige vs. Rookie Joe DiMaggio
Written by Robert Skead
Illustrated by Floyd Cooper
Imagine being a rookie baseball player and the coaches put you up against the best pitcher in the sport. That actually happened in 1936. Joe DiMaggio was a hot-shot player who wanted to be in the New York Yankees. To see if he was ready for the big leagues, the owners decided to test him. They asked him to play on a team called Dick Bartell’s All Stars, a team that would go where ever they could set up a game. They also called the Satchel Paige All Stars, a team of African Americans who could not play in the all-white National Baseball League. Joe DiMaggio, a rookie who hadn’t even been hired, going up again Satchel Paige, perhaps the best pitcher of all time, had to be scary for the young man especially as the hype around the game grew. Paige’s very first pitch hit DiMaggio and was meant to undermine his confidence. For much of the game, the score was tied. DiMaggio really wanted to hit one of those pitches. In the tenth inning, with a runner on first, DiMaggio’s savvy playing and base hit allowed the runner to score and won the game.
Great story for boys. The message here is to keep your confidence no matter how much the odds are against you. Boys can’t hear this too much and it is all the more powerful because “sports” is a language they understand. This is an inspiring class read aloud. For top readers, this would make an excellent script for a DIY audio book or PowerPoint presentation as a literacy activity. It could be used as part of a biography or history unit, even an example of sports stories in a genre unit. The illustrations are muted and create a sense of a by-gone era by award winning illustrator Floyd Cooper.
There are activities on the publisher’s website with a log-in: https://www.lernerbooks.com/products/t/11693/9780761366195/something-to-prove. The author has baseball related activities on his website: http://www.robertskead.com/funstuff.php.
TITLE: Something to Prove: The Great Satchel Paige vs. Rookie Joe DiMaggio- AUTHOR: Robert Skead
- ILLUSTRATOR: Floyd Cooper
- PUBLISHER: Carolrhoda, 2013
- REVIEWER: Risa Brown
- EDITION: Hardcover, 32 p.
- ISBN: 978-0-7613-6619-5
- GENRE: Sports
- LEXILE: 890
